Teachers' day:Learning is a continuous process

-By Swetha Amit
“Learning is a continuous process” – an oft-quoted expression to motivate oneself and others to attain and gather the ocean of knowledge, which is subdivided into chapters that impart the lessons of life at each stage. Such valuable anecdotes are implanted in our souls by the learned, wise and knowledgeable individuals termed as “teachers.”

This special day to acknowledge the presence of these personalities who have made a difference in our lives and which also happens to be the birthday of Dr. Radhakrishan, one of the most learned scholars, is celebrated every year on September 5th as ‘teachers day.’The concept of a teacher can traced back to the historical era of great Indian epics like the “Mahabharata”, where the embodiment of the word ‘teacher’ is that of the enlightened yet strict Dronacharya, the noble soul, who imparted the knowledge of artillery skills exclusive to the royal household. This concept has evolved to great personalities yet not so strict like Mahatma Gandhi and Gautama Buddha who preached ‘Ahimsa’ and principles of life that form the basis and essence of moral science for the present generation. And how can we forget the teachings of Lord Krishna, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad, Guru Nanak and Sai baba?

The word ‘teacher’ evokes varied emotions and perceptions by different age groups amongst us. For instance, a school kid may perceive a teacher as a stern faced individual wanting to hand out a punishment for the failure of completing an assignment or whispering to a classmate during classes. Or even a replica of the cozy mother- figure they are so used to at home. A high school or college goers may either view the faculty as a guinea pig to play pranks on or as a guiding factor to higher levels that assist in reaching the pinnacle of success.

Only as we mature into young adults, the essence of a teacher is realized in the form of expression of gratitude for having spent most of our formative years in educational institutions with these noble souls, who have helped us in shaping up our personalities, intellectual capabilities, ability to identify our strengths & weaknesses and be a guiding factor to specialize in our own fields.

However, in the modern day scenario, where incidents like the murder of professors due to sheer politics and accusing the same of sexual harassment of students have depicted the extent to which times have changed, that words like respect to teachers seem alien.Teacher’s day is celebrated world wide in order to express our sincere gratitude and revered thanks to acknowledge the amount of time invested by these individuals to mould us into what we are today. It can range from learning to add or subtract numerical data, Newton’s law of gravity, chemical reactions, different bones in the human body, prose and poetry, wars that occurred centuries ago, about the mighty mountains and seas of the world, to art, music, dance, cooking, sewing, sports and to learning about people, society, politics, worldly experiences and lastly about spirituality.

The success that have encountered our lives at every stage whether its coming first in class or winning first prize in extra curricular, or shining among one in a million as a star in our professional or personal lives, is attributed to these educational mentors.

It is indeed nostalgic to walk down the memory lane and analyze those experiences of having being lectured, scolded or probably even being handed out a punishment or two. What seemed like bitter experiences initially, turned out to be the actual, realistic, practical tests that we have passed in order to gain that courage and inner strength. The absence of these so called unpleasant experiences would have never motivated or inclined us to raise our curiosity levels and channelize our energy to the learning pathway.

As one ages and matures one realizes that teachers are not just the ones attached to educational institutions but the definition of the word has evolved into a much broader meaning and can be said to include people from whose life experiences and personality traits we learn from.

These may be our parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, bosses, co-workers, neighbors and other broad spectrum of people, encountered in the journey of life. Experiences undergone by such individuals provide valuable lessons that are not taught in schools to an extent that it enables us to grow and evolve into higher planes, thereby discovering a novel side to us and hence dawns upon us the purpose of existence. Time is then ripe for us to don the garb the role of imparting knowledge to the next generation.

Thus teacher’s day is a tribute not only to our faculty but also to our counterparts who act as our guide and philosopher at some point in time of our lives that has enabled the unconventional method of learning.

Often, we let certain days come and go without giving much thought to it due to our busy schedules. However today being an important day-teacher’s day, it’s essential to pause about all those people who have assumed the roles of teachers whether its in educational set ups or in our various encounters through the journey of life.

Let this day be made special for everyone including ourselves as we also are teachers in our own way by learning from our own mistakes. Grateful thanks to the Almighty for blessing us with good teachers and to life itself; from which we can draw valuable lessons. Lastly, teachers are considered someone next to our parents and before God Himself as the Sanskrit saying goes “Mata, Pita, Guru, Deyvam.”

Appeared as Editor's choice

Comments

Anonymous said…
You write well.I have read a few of your stories in msn.I liked this one.

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires"

All of us meet all these in the course of our lives.

KParthasarathi

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