1. A Glimpse into a Teacher’s Life
Dr. Banashree Bardalai
Department of Social Science
Royal Global School
Long gone are those dayswhenthe aura of the Guruji concept existed, where the balance of the Guru-
Shishya was never uniform, but, always tilted in favour of the Guruji. We, the older generation of
teachers might still lament over these good old days, where we still bore a deep respect for our
teachers, even blindly, as we are told to respect our teachers and elders.
Toldto respect,andyou respectedthem!Blindly, without questioning….ugh!#*** utter nonsense! We
needproof...whether they are to be respected and listened to or not! That is what today’s generation
demandsandall my friendsare in agreement to it and so are my parents….for, we pay huge amount of
my parentsmoney...we needsomethingtobe done ina different manner!Thisisthe demandof today’s
parents and students….for, knowledge we can easily get from the internet and we know better than
you! Why then schools still exist and why do we need the teachers?
These daysthe conceptof the school has actuallyrevolvedbacktothe ‘Gurukul’ system, where parents
are willing to pay money, provided their children get full grooming along with different conceptual
studies. Since, the parents are busy with their own set of workload and hence entrust this duty in the
hands of the modern public school system. But, they have missed out one point, in the early Gurukul
system, complete trust was given to the Guruji as it was understood that the best grooming would be
done inthe hands of these able people.Buttoday,constantinterference isseeninthe groomingprocess
as each thinksthattheyare betterequippedthanthe otherandinthisprocess,the ultimate conceptual
trainingdoesnotgetimparted,inthistug-of-warandblame game! The poorchildrenthen gets a totally
confusedup-bringing,astheycannotfollow whomtotrustandinthis processtheytake recluse into the
secure cocoonof theirfriends,whoare alsoequallyconfused and then the best way out is to allow the
parents and teachers to play their own blame game and lets enjoy our own complete freedom. If you
dare to questionme,Iwill getmentallyupsetandkeepthrowingthe ball into either the teacher’s court
or my parents’ court and viola, I can escape!
This simple concept can be easily dealt, if every few months, an orientation workshop takes place
between the parents and teachers, where constructive solutions are searched and no defence game
should be played. For, solutions always come out with open-end discussions and not by counting the
extrashillingsIhave gainedorspentinthe longrun. Whenthe childrencome toknow that both parents
and teachersholdmeetingsregularly,the blame game will stop; their stand becomes transparent with
both parents and teachers, so the PTM system should be taken more seriously and positively, and
parents-teacherscombinedworkshopshouldalsobe heldinapositive aura, where solutions should be
found only with constructive discussions…no blame game please!

2. Childrenalsoshouldbe given some space togrow up, withoutconstantquestioning.They have so many
thingsto cope up,so theirviewsshouldneverbe criticallydealtwith,butwithopen-ended constructive
ways. They need the trust from their parents and teachers, but by chance they make a mistake, we
shouldhelpthem togrowout of it. Theyonlywanta little of ourfriendshipandtrustandthe ones really
goingastray,should be brought back within the system, with constant effort of their parents-teachers
orientation team-work, in a positive aura.
In today’sworld, we needmore value-basedstudiesandastrongsupportive system,where the children
do not have to become subservient to their gadgets and the so-called social networking. Give them
space,but donot alienate them,astheymaybe growing,butyet need our security and little time from
our busyschedule.Talktothem,butnot as ‘gyan-guru’,butasa dependable entity, which will stand by
them,intheirdifficulttimestosorttheirproblemsandsolve theirlessonobstacles. Theydo not want to
grow outof the handsof theirayahs,intothe all-knowingimage of theirteachers,intothe able handsof
their tutors and be solaced by their equally confused friends……Did we grow in this same type of
childhood, which we are giving them? So we are guilty, so compensate it through money and
extravagantgifts?Are we justifiedin doing this? Do they deserve this? Time to think and change as we
are all equally responsible to secure back to this world a strong and happy next generation…which
cannot come out of our blame game theory, as each one should take up ones responsibility seriously,
time existstobe managed!Sonexttime donot take recluse intothisdialogue,“Ihave notime,Iam very
busy”. Find time and build the future of this young generation….teachers, parents, children….and all.
Give a humane touch to life and be happy at the end of each day...as you have lived each day so well,
withpride! We all need an inner introspection, including me, as these children have shown me a new
path,to thinkand give time to themas a guide,notas an all knowingteacher,who acts picture-perfect!