Today is an important day. October 5 is celebrated as the World Teachers’ Day and what better way to do so than by talking about your own favourite teachers.
All of us have a favourite teacher who has been an inspiration at some point in our lives whom we find difficult to forget. On the contrary, this sense of bonding with that particular teacher grows. The rut of life does not let us go back to our school, college, or university to meet him or her again. The desire to talk about them stays on.
We at TNS picked up a few people from different fields to talk about them. Interestingly, they all readily agreed to write this "My favourite teacher" essay again, this time with a passion they didn’t know earlier on.
Only one intellectual confessed that he was not formally educated in a university and could only write about the library and its books that became his teacher. Unfortunately, that write-up did not come but judging by the calibre of the person it is obvious that nothing can keep knowledge and learning away once you make up your mind.
For the rest of the lot, it is mostly the teacher who plays the inspirational part.
Teachers in this country are not too happy: with the scheme of things, the system and their salaries maybe. But they are most unhappy about the sense of prestige that is denied to them. The students would look up to the teachers once the teachers start looking up to themselves.
There is something seriously wrong with the system where the best students do not choose to become teachers. Yet, reading this Special Report, we come to know that we still have some of the best teachers.
It’s a tribute to the teachers who have influenced generation after generation. Only a few teachers have been talked about here. The rest are acknowledged no less.