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| With two students |
Today [Sep 5] is Teacher’s Day in India. India is a
country whose cultural tradition placed the teacher on a par with none less
than god. “Acharya devobhava,” said Dattatreya Upanishad.
The time has changed. Covid-19 changed it, I must say.
Before the pandemic placed the omnipotent smartphone in the hands of students
for online classes, the teacher commanded much respect from students. Not anymore.
Now the student may know more than the teacher. I may speak about Dostoevsky eloquently
but my student will teach me even more eloquently about Korean movies. I belong
to an old world whose value systems were entirely different from today’s.
Value systems. There lies the point. Is there any
value system left anymore? We live in a country whose government seems to have
legalised all kinds of violence [e.g., from Gujarat 2002 to Manipur 2023],
frauds [e.g., innumerable sublime slogans and the opposite reality – Beti bachao
beti padhao, etc], blatant misuse of religion for justifying the most
inhuman deeds [lynching, for instance]… It’s an endless list. The real tragedy
is that all these evils have the government’s sanction.
Worse, if you question these evils, you may be trolled,
arrested, your office may be raided, your house may be bulldozed, you may
vanish altogether from the world. It is as if one section of citizens can do
whatever they wish and the other sections will have to accept all that. The new
value system. Majoritarianism without any morality. Morality looks like a clown
wearing the motley. Even spirituality is a painful joke here.
What is the teacher’s role in such a country? I think
a teacher’s primary job is to help her students to realise the meaning of being
human in such a sociopolitical system. How to be human in a society where most
people are either predators or victims, and the predators pretend to be saints many
of whom are wearing the dresses of ascetics and monks and yogis?
The greatest disservice done by the present
dispensation which projects itself as Viswaguru [the world’s teacher!] is the
perversion of young minds. As a teacher who is completing four decades of
teaching, my request to this dispensation is to bring back some semblance of integrity
and authenticity to the sociopolitical system. Make it humane, at least.
PS. This post
is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon
Previous Post: The
Story of Kingini
May your wish come true!
ReplyDeleteHappy Teachers' Day!
Thank you, dear friend.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeletePranaams, dear teacher... I too would share the wish. Though I cannot help but think about cats being out of bags - or genies from bottles... almost impossible to get back in. YAM xx
Getting them back in will take years and an exceptional leader.
DeleteI don't think we have a Teacher day here in United States.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on, and stay safe.
In India, one of our former president's birthday is observed as teacher's day because he was a philosopher-teacher.
DeleteThe most hideous of emotional scars were caused by my teachers in school. And many were healed by other teachers. They wield enormous power to shape minds and attitudes.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that. I studied in a time when teachers were heartless dictators. I tried my best not to be like them. But i might have still csused some damage. Human affairs are rather precarious. It's quite different nowadays, however.
DeleteThe teaching job of a conscentious teacher is almost impossible in that country. Where humanity has lost all its value, how the teacher can instill that in the learners?
ReplyDeleteIndeed, that's why I have decided to stop. This is my last year.
DeleteSomehow it is so good to have u as a teacher , i think that you are so valuable and so precious stone which we don’t deserve.A great sorry for what we are doing and i would like to say that we wish to change , but that change is not happening even if we are trying ,reason may be ” this generations lack humanity” ,Begging you not for cursing us and bless us with all your forgiving our imperfections. Its not intentional , but still it’s happening from us. Don't know the opinion from others,Still i do carry love for you in my heart sir.
ReplyDeleteA person who wish not to publish his name from 12A🙂
This is one moment when I'm rendered speechless.
DeleteHumanity lies buried at your heart's bottom, dear student from 12 A. Your teacher is a gravedigger who can put soul in the body. Actually, he is a creator! Please note teachers are gravediggers because humanity is dead. If they are found in the graveyard, you can understand where all they can reach to teach! Hope you get my point. Happy teacher's day to gravediggers of souls!
Delete❤️❤️
DeleteI agree with your point sir that we have lost the meaning of teacher in our lives. In gurukul era teacher was everything. Guru Dronacharya asked Karn to give his thumb and he gave without a question and today you tell good things to the students and they will mould and make a mock of it...Your mention of value system is the most important. We all have forgottten about it. Happy teacher's day sir.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to go back to Gurukul any more than India needs to go back to Bharat. What Drona did to Eklavya and what Kunti did to Karna are what Modiji is doing to India and I don't accept any of these.
DeleteWe need a contemporary value system. Let Bharat with its savagery sleep. I would love to awaken my students to a new world....
Great to read, Greetings _()_
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rupam.
DeleteVery well said indeed
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Delete