September 5 is celebrated as Teachers' Day in India as it is the birthday of the most famous Indian teacher, President Dr. S Radhakrishnan.
Once I worked as a parent volunteer in my daughter's school. I was assigned the kindergarten class for three days, I had to teach them letter recognition, sing songs, tell them stories, and play games.
Though looking after 60 + children was quite a feat, and I was tired at the end of the first day, the lovely faces, the beguiling smiles and the unbridled enthusiasm of the children made me look forward to the next 2 days.
On the second day, the children were more familiar with me, they sang louder, laughed more, were more mischeavous and were in a mood of gay abandon during the last hour of games. "I told my mummy about you", said a pretty girl smiling shyly at me. "Oh did you? " I asked, returning the smile. "She will meet you", came the reply. "Ok!" I replied and waved to her while walking back home.
On the third day, true to her word, the little child came leading her mother and said, "Mummy, see new teacher". The parent gave me a lovely bouquet and said "Happy Teacher's day!" and went away.
This was 10 minutes before the school began.... As the children trouped in every single girl had brought in a bouquet, some had got chocolates too... Soon the room was filled with all those lovely flowers. there were roses, gladioli, carnations...
There was a lot of celebration, singing and dancing, besides a few skits created by the senior girls. It was a fun day, and the children loved it... As the day drew to a close, the headmistress walked in to thank me for volunteering for three days... She seemed to be taken aback by the flowers she could see everywhere...
"So many bouquets!! Why dont you take some home?" I took several bouquets to the beautiful church close by, gave some away to my parents and took home half a dozen! As I was leaving the school, a few more parents came to me and wished me for the day and said their children loved the school and its teachers.
The next day when I got back to my regular work place and thumped away on the keyboard the images of the last three days kept flashing before my eyes....
The laughter, the tears, the songs and the games, the willingness to learn and their charmingly defiant ways.... childhood's most precious moments are framed within these happy places of learning....
And September 5th, with all its flowers and good wishes and the smiling faces of parents and children, will always remain etched in my memory for a long time to come.
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6 comments:
Nice article; may be I will be a "volunteer teacher" one of these days..
In the kids' world the teacher is the hero/'heroine.
Teaching kinds is in itself a pleasant experience. I have conducted summer camps and enjoyed every bit of it.
Now I have registered as a volunteer for the Teach India project of Times of India.
This blog has actually brought back memories of my kindergarten days.. the way we used to admire our teachers and consider them so divine (only next to mom I guess!!).. teaching kindergarten kids is a treat for everyone.. they are so innocent and cute that all would love to spend time with them. kids feel so excited when their teacher smile at them or just call out their names.. the innocence behind it and the unconditional love is beyond explanation.
Teaching is the most scared of all professions as the teacher has an opportunity to nurture and lead the young minds to the right path… Happy teacher’s day to all teachers.. not only those who have taken up teaching as their profession, but also those who were able to bring some positive difference in somebody’s life!
Celebrating teacher’s day is really meaningful as after parents’ teachers play a very important role in shaping the future of an individual.
I feel teacher’s especially in lower classes need to stress the importance of self discipline, civic sense, morals etc. apart from the regular syllabus. I have a feeling this quality is lacking these days in younger generation.
The impact a teacher has on a student, especially during the formative years, is incredible. However cliched this may sound, a teacher can make or break a child's future.
The current generation of students is unfortunately not as respectful to its teachers as it needs to be. What needs to be done to change that, I wonder? Maybe more of such meaningful articles?
Refreshing and touching article. I remember all my teachers on 5th Sept who have given me this day and every day to me.
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