In the guiding light of a teacher

This Teacher’s Day, I am reminded of a teacher that I happen to know.  He retired more than 25 years ago, with a measly salary of Rs 5,000 a month. He used to teach English and Maths in municipal schools, the two most dreaded subjects that the children from the poorer sections of society had to deal with.

He continued to teach these subjects even after he was promoted from a secondary grade teacher to headmaster. 

As a teacher, he was one of the very best. Trained at a time when teachers were held in utmost esteem, he realised early that his responsibilities ran deeper than just preparing students for exams.

  He believed in teaching concepts, be it in mathematics or English, so that his students were never at a loss when tricky situations presented themselves. He built a rapport with his students by concentrating on what they were interested in. He would always start his classes with a five-minute discussion on the ongoing cricket Test matches, so that his students were fully present, mind and body, in the classroom with him when he started teaching.

His punishments were fair, but few, because he believed in finding out why a student was misbehaving or doing poorly in his studies before he punished him.  His leading principle as a teacher was this: “To teach John Latin, a teacher has to know John and know Latin.”

  His thinking, humour, and psychological approach to teaching saved many a student from being unjustly punished or expelled. He also fully believed that not every child was cut out for formal education, and was particularly sympathetic to those who found it very difficult in classroom situations. 

Family’s Guru

Students reciprocated the caring education imparted by this teacher in so many ways.  He would often be stopped on his way to the market or in the city by men and women who would ask him if he recognised them. When he drew a blank, they would tell him that they were his students in such and such a school, and proudly update him on their lives.

When their own children had problems with these two subjects, they came back to him. Thus, he often ended up teaching even his students’ children, carrying on the time-honoured tradition, and became the ‘family’s Guru’.

It always amused him that female students would come to him and ask him to talk their parents into delaying their marriages. In the 1970s, SSLC or PUC was determined to be enough education for girls, and their parents would start fixing their marriages. This trusted teacher would speak to the parents on behalf of girls who wanted to do their graduation or post-graduation. When such an intervention failed, he would counsel the girls not to despair, but try to continue their studies after marriage at least through correspondence. 

Even in the education system, there is a seamy underbelly, where promotions are sold and bought, transfers are traded, and power, political and monetary, is misused. When he became a headmaster, he was more exposed to this, but never let it change him or his principles.

This was a man who refused time and again to be cowed down by either money or power. He had been confronted several times by local elected officials as well as his own superiors on several occasions, to promote an undeserving candidate, or remove a hardworking teacher. He had even been offered bribes to let off students caught copying, or give additional marks to favoured students.

But he said no, and meant it, every time.  Even in the midst of administrative hassles, he found time for the children who studied in his school. In fact, he was the only man who used to hold special classes for English so that students writing public exams could perform better.

When I had an opportunity to study under this wonderful teacher, I turned it down flat. To my disparaging eye, his insistence on understanding concepts was so old-fashioned. I regret it now, when my own children need help in mathematics, and I can’t do much, since I don’t know the basics well.  When he heard of my decision, he just smiled and let me be.  He knew that his teaching me wouldn’t work, given our relationship.

Yes, that teacher is my father.  And even though I unthinkingly turned away an opportunity to study under him, I was privileged to be by his side and observe him as he showed what a good teacher should be, through his life and his actions.  There is one day in every year to celebrate teachers, but in the lives of all the students that he touched, this great teacher is celebrated every day.