No School, Kuch karo na!

This academic year ended on a really sober note.
As we entered the second week of March the Corona pandemic made its presence felt all over India. The ICSE  and ISC Board examinations had also commenced by then. In order to ascertain the safety of young students, it was decided to close all the schools. Even my school was closed and we, teachers began work from home.

For at least a week before the school closed, we teachers made our kids aware of the threat of the virus and encouraged them to follow safety measures. In order to maintain personal cleanliness, we told the children to carry soap or hand wash and/ or sanitizers to use whenever they had to use the washroom. I can't tell you how excited the children were to bring these to school. All through the day someone or the other took the liberty to use the sanitizer while the class was in progress. The smell wafted around the whole class for the day.During break time they had the most fun. They compared their stock and spent a good time at the taps.They had to reminded that they also had to eat their lunch. These very children who had to be reminded time and again to carry handkerchiefs everyday to school, never forgot to bring these hand washes and sanitizers! Selective memory at its best!

To make the atmosphere lighter with the threat of the virus looming large, I taught them a few new games that they could play during the break time.I am fortunate to be a teacher as the joy and excitement on their faces when the kids play games is worth watching. It was fun to see them rolling in laughter or simply scream out aloud as they played, fought, made up and thoroughly enjoyed themselves in gay abandon. They looked like they had no care in the world. It made me wish we adults too could learn to enjoy ourselves like this forgetting our worries at times.

The announcement of the closure of school came unexpectedly so we could not even end the academic year properly as we usually did due to the prevailing situation. This is the time when we, as teachers enjoy the most with the children as we bond with them for the whole year. Sadly, we could only see them till the second week of March , after which we started sending them worksheets to be done at home.You need to be a teacher to understand how we miss the students, especially when school closes abruptly like this.

The profile work, mark sheets ,worksheets and manual work kept me busy at home.The students too had their hands full with daily worksheets to solve. It was then announced that we would be conducting video lessons for the classes on Zoom App. It was a new experience for teachers and students alike. Once we logged in for the video session , it was really exciting. They were so thrilled to see me and so were their parents. It is another feeling  altogether seeing your students after a long time. Imagine a video lesson for 42 nine to ten year old kids! It was cacophony!Their enthusiasm was infectious. Even their parents, came to have a look and say hello to their teacher as most of them were working from home too .They took some time to settle down for their lesson as they were excited to see their classmates.They told me they wanted to come to school and missed school.They talked without a pause, asking how I was, when school was going to start again, what about the examinations, was I going to school.......so many queries!
 Finally, after answering them satisfactorily the video lesson began. It was a pleasant change to teach them like this, something new for us,  but we enjoyed it. After the goodbyes I realized how much I had missed my kids. They had brought a smile on my face. Hopefully I will meet them again when they come to take their profiles in April. Waiting to see their smiling faces!

How I wish this academic year had not ended abruptly like this. But then situations like these call for actions that take into consideration the safety of all.

In The School Bus.....

I travel to school by bus and in those seven minutes there are so many things going on in the bus that it serves as a good entertainment for me. Some of the little ones are still catching up on their lost sleep while the others are raring to go and meet the day with unbridled enthusiasm. There are so many discussions happening, which to any onlooker may seem mundane and ordinary but for the kids it is a matter of great importance. The discussions range from what grades they secured at the appraisals, baskets or goals scored during P.E period, a new pencil or story book, the trouble a class kid got into....the list is endless. Some of the kids open their books to show some new games or tricks learnt while a few studious ones try to read and prepare for an assessment.

The kids learn a lot, and I mean a lot, in the school bus. They pick up many cuss words, new ways of bullying, and also how to share. They learn to stand up for their pals and if needed they gang up on a few kids and trouble them. Their chatter goes on non-stop till the bus reaches the school and even as they walk up to their respective classes. There are arguments galore on the seating in the bus. All want the window seat and they vie for the seat next to their best pal. Numerous quarrels and fights take place during that short ride to school and back. Many a times they take the assistance of the bus assistant to solve their quarrels and fights. Sometimes the fights and bullying reach to such an extent that the teacher or parent is called as mediator. The travel by school bus is also a social learning that takes place where the kids bond and/or fight. Gangs and groups are made and broken here. Innumerable ever-lasting friendships are also formed here.

There are also some hilarious moments in the school bus. Today I took the school bus on my way back from school. I saw a few kids enjoying a lollipop. The rest who did not have the lollipop were really curious. One kid even asked the bus assistant how the rest got the lollipops and was told that they got it in school. The lucky ones with the lollipops enjoyed licking them with relish, while the others stared at them with longing. It was really fun to watch it. At times a poor kid starts the day with tears in his eyes when another points out that he/she has not brought any material for a project or not completed the assignment for the day.

On the way back the kids are dropped at their respective stops and they are picked up by their parents or grandparents. The minute they alight they start talking about the happenings in their class, their version of course! The first thing they do is hand over their school bags to their parents and some of them get hugs and kisses as if they have come back after a fortnight from a long trip somewhere.

So if you think that the school bus ride is just that, think again! It is a short journey the kids take each day during which they learn many things and build their attitude and personality. This short ride teaches them social skills and makes them deal with new situations. It excites them and gives them those few minutes with their friends to enjoy before their day at school.
So a school bus ride is much more than just a school bus ride......

Teacher,Teacher!

Throwback to those days when I was in school, probably in the fourth standard.We played all sorts of games ,unlike the kids of today who are more into staring at the monitors of their PSP's, tabs, smart phones and computers.We played outdoor games like cricket, kabaddi, kho-kho, lagori, hockey and football and when it was raining we gathered on the staircase of the building and played carom, cards, Happy Families or teacher-teacher. I loved being the teacher even then and taught my building friends lessons that I learnt in school.They enjoyed being my students and during these childhood games I made up my mind to pursue teaching, Immediately after my tenth standard boards I joined a teacher training institute and I have never regretted that decision of mine.

I was the first teacher in my family and proud to be one. Even after all these years I have always considered it a blessing to be a teacher though as the years have progressed I have seen a drastic change in the way the teaching  fraternity has been viewed by society. There is a huge difference in the students I taught during my initial years and the students in my class now. Even the role we play as teachers has made a giant leap.Teaching has always inspired,amazed and satisfied me like nothing else has.I have grown as a person and learnt so much from my students. I have realised so many of my drawbacks and tried my best to overcome those short-comings through these years.I can confidently say that I am a much better teacher than what I was during my initial years.
As a teacher we play an important role for the children in our class.We touch lives and have the onus of the all-round development of the child under our care just like their parents.I take my role as a teacher quite seriously and am happy to see how I bring about a positive change in my students.

Sadly,the teachers are not getting their due.The teaching fraternity does the get the respect it should. Teachers shape minds and mould lives.They do much more than just complete the portion and teach what is in the prescribed curriculum, they encourage better living, change behaviour, instil confidence, imbibe values and encourage the children to think.The citizens of tomorrow are being shaped in today's classrooms yet the teachers who do that , those who lay the foundation of the children's lives, are neglected.The small pay packets are just a tip of the ice-berg, the voices of teachers, their grievances are  not being heard. There are many teachers who are passionate about what they do but then there are also the bad eggs in the basket who do a shoddy job and the rest have to bear the brunt.

The rigours the teachers go through each day is understood only by their immediate family members while the others just see it as shorter working hours and many holidays.The satisfaction teaching gives is immense as the love and adoration we get from the students is unfathomable and the knowledge that we have played a part in their growth and progress gives us a sense of achievement and pride. It is high time people appreciate the work of the teachers, specially the ones who lay the foundation of learning in the pre-primary and primary school where they learn the basics of the three R's-Reading ,wRiting and aRithmetic.

Every year during Teachers Day I feel a sense of immense gratitude for all the teachers who touched my life and made me what I am today and I hope I too have touched a few lives of the students I have taught all these years.As a teacher each day is a new challenge and teaches me something.This Teachers Day I asked my class students to draw on the theme My Teacher and I and this is what they came up with.