“One book, One pen, One Child, and One Teacher can change the world”

Khazran Khan | Ground Report

The role of teachers shouldn’t remain confined to books and syllabus, but in real life, he should extend his wings of love and care all over the students.

Teachers, we need you. We need your guidance. We need your assistance. We need them more than you give us, more than you think. Teachers, why is such a communication gap between us, why can’t you help us to become a better version of ourselves, why can’t you put yourself in our shoes and understand how things are getting intricate for us every single day? Yes, for sure we know you too have had been there. But aren’t you aware of the fact, things change at a rapid speed nowadays.

What it was then, it is not now. What’s gone was the past and what is currently is a tiresome present creating a future for us. It’s just you who can either make us or break us. You can mold us into something entirely different. But honestly, are you taking pains for turning us from pebble to pearl?  Are you there to provide us a patient listening when we share our professional problems with you? Don’t you enter the class and leave just after delivering your lecture? Do you ever give a damn as to why some student is not able to score well in your subject or why someone is lagging behind; while you are leading a crowd? Don’t you think it's something serious and worth pondering? I am no one to criticize or judge you, my teachers. But what urged me to write on this topic is what should bother you over and over again.

Let me make it clear enough, Indian colleges and universities actually have changed the perception of students. We no doubt have many lecturers and professors with the highest qualifications and years of experience, but in the long run, it's all in vain, if you have no grounds for teaching with dedication and commitment.

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Teachers play an important role in students' Life and none can deny it. As a teacher, you must try hard to inspire students to strive for greatness. Not only guiding them in academics, but you should also help them with their extracurricular activities too. A good teacher imparts moral values, knowledge, discipline, and responsibility to his /her students. Teachers are the lifeline of a nation.

The development of a country lies in how well the students get assistance from their teachers. Better guidance received more progress the country shows. It's all in the hands of teachers how to shape students' future. A teacher's presence in a students life can boost their morale and raise them to heights of success. You are not just a keeper of information, transforming it from your lesson plan to students' notebooks; your role is more vital and appreciated than this much.

Teachers, you can gear up to help students to understand knowledge and concepts that are out of the box of contents in a textbook. Teachers take the second role after parents, in aiding a person by affecting his/her overall development. Your presence in itself should create a positive environment that is filled with affection, dignity, and honesty. For enhancing students' life a teacher drives creativity and curiosity in them, thus enabling a student to achieve his underlying goals. In the words of Barack Obama :

“ From the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the colour of their skin or the income of their parents. It’s the person standing at the front of the classroom.”

It is said that teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions. So one can realise how valuable teachers are for society. Malala Yousafzai once said:

“ One book, One pen, One Child, and One Teacher can change the world.” My dear teachers, none denies the thought of what worth you hold in yourself, in single chalk that lies in your hand and in each word that is uttered from your mouth. The then late president APJ Abdul Kalam Azad quoted :

“ Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher that will be the biggest honour for me.”

These are not just flattering words but its to make our teachers understand what place they hold not only in the educational system but in real lives. They influence people around them. It's because of them, a student can either becomes a dutiful citizen or a wanted criminal. How well you inculcate the good values in them and how well they take it are the factors responsible for creating or ruining their future life.

Well talking of the other side too. Here let us pause and give it a thought, the above mentioned all the points... Are these existing in today’s world where you and I are living as a student?  Nevertheless to mention the deteriorating quality of education in schools and colleges is holey and solely because of some irresponsible teachers. This is not negative feedback for you. This article aims at opening wide your notions on the things that you think are pretty good but stand as the worst in your students' vision. Present-day teachers, especially those in colleges and universities have completely turned the tables when it comes to ruling ideologies of honest and truthful teachings.

They come and leave after delivering their lectures, not even caring if students have understood well or not. Some teachers are so freakingly horrible that they terrify their students and hence they become hesitant in asking questions or having conversations with them. That may sound hilarious but it is a bitter truth, that one cannot escape from. Even in colleges, teachers don’t give up on creating their bad images for students. We, college-going students, aren’t that immature and ill-mannered as you think of us. No doubt everyone is not like that,  but usually, most teachers stand as an exception, having similar kinds of thoughts. They try to suppress them, harass them with irrelevant comments, judge them by the tone of their voice, and not only this they drag themselves to such a level that is hard to pen down here. It literally is a heck!

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Teachers, you focus more on teaching than on learning. You make us work hard for CGPA and marks, and give us a cold shoulder for the pursuit of knowledge. You tell us to burn midnight oil but when it comes to your help, you ignore the students as if they don’t exist. That's doesn’t reflect your cruel and cold behaviour to your students, but it makes them believe that they don’t have anyone to counsel or assist them from the other end. This creates your bad image, indiscipline, hatred, and humiliation in their hearts for you. Not only this, if a student approaches you for some councelling, you don’t need to give excuses for a busy schedule. Just say it directly on their face if you don’ wants to. Please stop being double-faced. Most often teachers complain that their students always talk behind their back, but isn’t it ironical that you do the same when discussing students in your staff room.

Moreover, it doesn’t stop here. The list is long how teachers become a reason for disappointing students not to believe in themselves. In the words of Bill Gates:

“ Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting kids to work together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.”

A.J Juliani takes it by saying:

“ Our job is not to prepare students for something. Our job is to help students prepare themselves for anything. ”

So come on let’s be honest with ourselves and ask ourselves a question. Are you fulfilling the duties of a teacher, are you focusing more on learning than teaching, and are you genuinely giving your best to them? If not then you should step back as a teacher. We understand how much pressure you’ve, but you must keep in consideration the pressure your students have to face too. Hopefully, Albert Einstein’s words may clear it out in case I failed to do so.

“ School failed me, and I failed the school. It bored me. The teachers behaved like Feldwebel (sergeants). I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam. What I hated most was the competitive system there. I felt that my thirst for knowledge was being strangled by my teachers; grades were their only measurement. How can a teacher understand youth with such a system? ”

(Author is an engineering student and she can be reached at [email protected])

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