I am a Teacher..Experiences

On March 2, 2012, I penned down my Blog "I am a Teacher". Since then  I have been traveling a lot and could not find time to write more about it.

Traveling across North India and majorly in UP and Haryana, I have come across many schools which are diverse in their size, the concept, the students they attract and the services they provide.

Education: The prime objective of all institutions however remains at bay, most of the times. There are several reasons. Primarily, the objective of a school is to earn money. No doubt, an institution cannot run without it. But , that objective leads to many other complications as well. And the basic one is teachers not being given attention.

I am talking about attention, not salary, not the perks, not the facilities.  Schools, Colleges and other Educational Institutions have a huge responsibility. That of creating fine minds and finer human beings. And this activity is done through humans.

Humans building humans, sounds easy and normal, coz that's what we have been doing for ages. But how often do we care about the quality we are delivering? Does a degree, a diploma or a good family background make a good teacher.

One Quote goes like:

A Medoicre Teacher Tells.
A Good teacher Explains.
A Superior Teacher Demonstrates.
The Great Teacher Inspires.

There are many explanations to this and different views. But the questions is: How do teachers advance through different stages? Years of experience? Number of subjects mastered? Number of Students taught? Where do we draw the line? How can one go from being a Mediocre teacher to a Great one?

I have spoken to teachers, many teachers and found most of them complaining about their job. For that matter, everyone complains about their job. But then, some don't. And that is the difference between a Mediocre and a Great teacher. Why do we complain? Why do we think that ours is the toughest job?

One reason behind it is that the managements are not people-centric. They do not take interest in the opinions of their teachers. They do not ask them about their problems. Work is forced upon them. 9 hrs duty becomes a burden. And why does that happen? Because ours is a thankless job.

Schools and Colleges boast about the size of their campus, the facilities they have, Swimming pools, digital classrooms, Tennis courts. They do not boast about the quality of their teachers. Either they believe that they actually don't have great teachers, or they plain and simple ignore them.

It's the teachers who build the children, the school and eventually the nation. Give them a pat on the back. Appreciate them for good work done, however small it be. Congratulate the teachers when their class does good. Give them an A+ when they conduct an activity well.

And mark the difference.


A small story:

In one school, library books information had to be digitized and uploaded on computer. The librarian, a middle aged lady, who knew less of computers, was tense, looking at the 5000 odd books in front of her. When I visited her, she told me it was not possible for her to do all that work. I sat with her for 3 hrs. I Did not show her anything. Did not do anything for her.

We talked. I just explained how wonderful her work is. And how important it is for her to be able to keep up with technology. How this activity will prove beneficial in the days to come. At the end of day, she asked me a question.

"Sir, How many days do you think it will take me for doing all this work?"

I replied " 5 days, 2 hrs per day"

She said "Thank You Sir, I will try my best".

On the 3rd day she called me and informed that she had worked almost 7 hrs each day and had been able to convert only 500 books. I said " Ma'am, don't worry, by day after tomorrow, all 5000 will be done, you can do it".

On the 5th day, she did not call. A week later, I visited her again and she was through with almost 2000 books. This time she did not complain. She just said "Sir, I have done only 2000 till now, it ,will take me at least 10 more days to complete all."

I said  "Ma'am, at least you started. You were so afraid of the workload, that you did not even give it a try."

Her salary did not increase, no perks or facilities were added. Still she took up the challenge and made it. Her Registers do not see daylight now. Her computer is always on, and all library activities are done digitally.