A teacher does not merely teach and research. She can make or ignore a student. Her role goes beyond her presence as a knowledge and skill giver. She is a friend, confidante, counsellor, and even a saviour.
As I think of Teachers’ Day falling on September 5, a conversation I had with teachers in a Pune college springs to my mind. They said a girl they had once counselled was now a doctor, bringing pride to them and her parents. When she was 16, her parents pulled her out of the college because they wanted to marry her off “before she became too ambitious”.
On hearing of the sad incident, the teachers visited her home and spoke to them. They told the parents that she was a brilliant student and should be allowed to finish her studies. “You can’t marry her off before she is 18. What will she do idling at home till then?”
Initially, the parents were reluctant, but the teachers spoke with conviction, “Look at us. We are postgraduates and manage both family and college well after marriage. We married immediately after we completed our Master’s degree. Please allow her to come to college. We will take care of her in the college, which is an all-girls college.” The parents felt reassured, and the girl could complete her graduation, and more. The doctor is now seen as a model in her extended family and community.
Students from sheltered backgrounds may struggle with the transition to college and succumb to peer pressure, adopting harmful habits that affect their academic performance and health. They need guidance.
A teacher who is observant will notice if her students are looking depressed or abstracted. She would step out of her skin to discover the cause of their mental state. She can either help them herself, or seek professional help to pull such students out of their condition.
As I was teaching one day, I observed a young boy, who entered the first year a month ago, looking very distraught. He was not taking part in the class as he used to. I watched him for over a week. When sure there was a problem he was trying to cope with, I asked him to see me in my office.
“What’s happened? You’re no longer excited in class. All well at home?”
Tears spilled from the 17-year-old’s eyes. After a while, he told me, “Madam, the boys in the hostel have done something terrible to me.” I kept looking at him, wondering if he would share more, but he was hesitant.
Realising that something that happened during ragging was difficult for him to tell a woman faculty member, I told him, “All right, if you can’t tell me, it’s okay, but will you talk to a doctor in our hospital? I will inform him you will visit him. You can tell him and he will help you.”
Fortunately, he listened to me and came back after a couple of meetings to tell me that he was happy he met the doctor. He was smiling and soon became active in class again. I was later informed by the doctor that the boy had been asked to undress by his senior students, humiliating him. I was shocked. Instead of talking about the specific incident, I wrote to the institute officials to request them to appoint a counsellor to address the students’ academic and personal problems, as campus life can be challenging for students. The institute appointed a part-time counsellor. Today, the institute boasts many student counsellors.
Teachers shape students’ intellectual curiosity, values, attitude to work, peers, and life. Their students grow gradually as a teacher has planned. Teaching is a profession with a human touch.
No teacher should think she is nothing, nor that she cannot bring about change. Teachers, like mothers, hover kindly but firmly over their students. Teaching is a profession of passion, not of pelf. It demands the whole teacher.
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