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Teacher Today

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

 

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Comments

  1. magiceyeSeptember 5, 2023 at 6:53 AM

    May your wish come true!
    Happy Teachers' Day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yamini MacLeanSeptember 5, 2023 at 7:30 AM

    Hari OM
    Pranaams, 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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 5, 2023 at 8:41 AM

      Getting them back in will take years and an exceptional leader.

      Delete
  3. peppylady (Dora)September 5, 2023 at 8:36 AM

    I don't think we have a Teacher day here in United States.
    Coffee is on, and stay safe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 5, 2023 at 8:44 AM

      In India, one of our former president's birthday is observed as teacher's day because he was a philosopher-teacher.

      Delete
  4. CareenaSeptember 5, 2023 at 12:04 PM

    The 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 5, 2023 at 1:02 PM

      I 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.

      Delete
  5. Prasanna RaghavanSeptember 5, 2023 at 2:54 PM

    The 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?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 5, 2023 at 3:21 PM

      Indeed, that's why I have decided to stop. This is my last year.

      Delete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 5, 2023 at 6:41 PM

    Somehow 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.

    A person who wish not to publish his name from 12A🙂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 5, 2023 at 8:53 PM

      This is one moment when I'm rendered speechless.

      Delete
    2. DawnanddewSeptember 5, 2023 at 11:18 PM

      Humanity 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
    3. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 6, 2023 at 7:39 AM

      ❤️❤️

      Delete
  7. WaterSeptember 6, 2023 at 12:52 AM

    I 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 6, 2023 at 7:43 AM

      I 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.

      We need a contemporary value system. Let Bharat with its savagery sleep. I would love to awaken my students to a new world....

      Delete
  8. rupam sarmaSeptember 6, 2023 at 10:17 AM

    Great to read, Greetings _()_

    ReplyDelete
  9. vanderloostSeptember 7, 2023 at 11:02 PM

    Very well said indeed

    ReplyDelete

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