Sultana is back with a tribute to Teachers on the occasion of Teachers Day in India. Please encourage her with your comments  - Sukumar

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Forming each pillar with patience,

Laying each stone with prayer

But the temple the teacher built

Shall endure while the ages roll,

For the beautiful unseen temple

Was the child’s immortal soul

- Anonymous

I remember today my Physics Teacher who had called us for a special class on a Saturday. Nothing special about it…. and towards the end of the half day class, she gave us the usual teacher’s tips for the upcoming board exams. Just then, the peon came in to give her a message of a phone call. She broke down like we never saw her do before. Nine of her relatives had died in a van accident. Her husband had been negotiating with the hospital authorities and having completed them had now requested her to come home.

She had got the bad news before she had started out for work : but he lady had actually thought, ‘Why waste the children’s special class? I can complete it before I’m required at home’.

A round of speechless applause rose from the class of 50 girls in St. Aloysius Anglo Indian Girls’ School. That day we knew who was standing in front of us. A rare teacher, in whose debt we were grateful and privileged to be.

With the newspapers reporting various incidents of teachers killing children with violent punishment methods and students attacking their teachers / professors, it seems that the education system is becoming like the stuff of nightmares.

Who is a teacher? In the ancient world, a teacher was almost divinity and teaching was a ‘vocation’, a Calling. In today’s competitive world, it is a profession. Sometimes, it’s just a ‘job’. Accordingly too, the characteristics of the teacher changes : if the person playing the teacher’s role is doing it because it is their ‘calling’, you can be sure you have a rare teacher to remember all your life. If it is in the ‘profession’ scenario, no doubt too you have a great person to learn from (sans the compassion element which comes by default with the ‘calling’).

What happens when teaching becomes a ‘job’ … Disaster! A teacher who is just an ‘employee’ brings all the ‘employment’ related baggage including frustration-on-the-job. Rare is the artist who is bored by color and rare is the architect who grumbles at his own sculpture! Such only can be a true teacher. The others had better change their professions to something else for their own sakes as well as for the children’s.

Through all the various types of teaching professionals that I have met ,  I think according to me, these are a few ‘default’ characteristics which a teacher must possess to just ‘be a teacher’, leave alone an outstanding one.

Truth from Within : To truly give – of one’s time, energy and attention for the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake – is the ideal maxim of a good teacher

Empathy, Attention and Compassion : To view a child as a precious resource for the future world and to embrace with empathy and compassion to so vulnerable a human being is the first and foremost duty of a teacher. Whether we produce ugly ducklings out of swans or swans out of ugly ducklings is completely in the hands of our teachers.

Excellence Beyond the Self : To be able to guide the student to vistas further than the ‘teacher’ / teaching umbrella. For eg, a truly caring teacher may put his student in touch with some icons that he considers a role model for himself so that there is an enhanced benefit. If there is no person, writings / works of that person may be used as a reference.

In an age when ROI (return on investment) is the be-all and end-all of life, we can never return to our teachers what they have invested in us. Their attention, affection and warmth is the backbone of which citizens and nations are made up in every day and age. It’s a great feel to remember Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan in whose honour teachers day is celebrated in India but also to recall each and every school, college and university teacher who played and continue to play their part in building this great nation.