“Those were the days”. This statement am sure crosses our mind every time we meet our old buddies or when we think about numerous precious moments from our erstwhile life in school and college. The thought of childhood and teen days brings back a flurry of memories and a smile instantly appears on our faces. Even today, we still crave for the enthusiasm and innocence that used to envelope us and somehow magically protect us from the horrors of the world. Everything seemed fair and simple and laughter was the only sound. Of course, there were the 'not so great' moments as well, but then they were quickly healed and life just surged ahead.
Apart from friends the people we remember most are our teachers. Among all those who walked into our classrooms, there were one or two who became entrenched in our memories for ever. They appeared ordinary and dressed like everyone else, but when they began to take our lessons we would be teleported to an entirely different universe. Their teaching methods were unconventional and used to challenge our thinking. We loved them the most, were prepared to do anything for them and always looked forward to their classes.
There were two such fantastic teachers in my life and I consider myself lucky to have learnt from them at critical junctures in my life. The first was Ms. Maithili. She introduced me to computers and programming when I was in high school. Her teaching methods were out of the norm-we did not learn from textbooks or follow a set syllabus in her classes. She insisted on free thinking and we were taught just the basics. We were forced to learn through experimentation, learn independently, question every logic and challenge each other. Her classes were fun filled and yet she was the 'iron-lady' when it came to discipline. Our unseasoned minds were soon fine tuned to be creative and follow a rigorous approach to perfection. The other was Professor Neil. He taught me Strategic Management in B-school. He had a brilliant mind and his teaching style was unique. He would walk into the class, remove his coat, power up the projector and shoot through 10 slides of the course material. This routine was followed for the first 15 minutes of his lecture session and no questions were entertained. After this came the most exciting part. With the routine done away with, the real education used to begin. We could discuss any topic for the next 45 minutes from sports to politics to page 3 gossip and ask any number of questions. Most management theories were ruthlessly shot down, frivolous or ordinary ideas ridiculed and the discussions were always cleverly steered by him to make us think about the future. The idea was to make us think and dream big. Professor Neil’s philosophy was that our imagination should always outstrip our capabilities and this was the first mile in the path for excellence.
Most of are lucky to have come across such exemplary teachers who have been the beacon in our lives. Unfortunately some of us are not. Though in every breadth we speak about development and progress of our country, we still lag in providing the basic needs to all. Here are few statistics- in urban schools the ratio of teacher to student averages around 1: 30. However in rural areas the ratio is around 1:45. In some states such as Bihar the ratio is even worse about 1:60. The Indian government spends about 3.5% of its GDP on education which is a far cry from developed countries which spend almost double. The US and OECD countries spend about 5.5% and 6.1% of their GDP on education respectively. When it comes to gender diversity in education the numbers are heavily tipped towards 'urban males'. In primary schools the National Attendance Rate hovers at about the 85% mark for urban males, urban females and rural males. For rural females it’s about 78%. At secondary school level, the National Attendance Rate for urban males and females is about 65% while for rural males its about 55% and rural females its as low as 45%. This can mean only one thing. That more and more of our kids especially in rural areas are dropping out of school and females are most affected.
Why is their a disparity? Probably we are are yet to break the positive correlations that exist between the sociial starta, caste and gender bias. Living in the cities we take education for granted. It is natural for us to go to school and college, complete our education and find a befitting career. It somehow feels like our ingrained birth right. Do not all the Indians deserve the same? Is it not the moral responsibility of every educated individual to ensure that the deprived ones too get access to same opportunities that they have had. Though there exists endless Government schemes to provide education, they are always short on money and found wanting for lack of vision and execution. NGO efforts too lack the necessary scale to to bring about a fundamental change. So why not this teacher’s day we pick up the baton and make a resolution- Educate at least one child a year. Provide them the means and tools to finish schooling. Teach them what we have learnt. Collectively we can bring about a radical change in the system. Afterall we are an urban workforce of over quarter billion.
So what are we waiting for? Lets unleash the teacher in each one of us….
(This rambling is a tribute to all my teachers who made me what I am today. Thank you!)
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