“The influence of teachers extends beyond the classroom, well into the future”
- F. Sionil Jose
Truly enough, teaching is a noble profession. Teachers impact the minds of individuals at the most formative stages of their lives- their teachings and methods have a big say in determining the future of the individual. Perhaps right after their parents, teachers are the first people kids learn to assume as their role models- authority figures they look up to and imitate. While not all of us are privileged enough to go through systemic schooling during the tender stages of their lives, even those who rise from adversities often cite the importance of having mentors or people who guided them; demarcating just how crucial the role of a teacher is.
As the nation's education system undergoes an enormous shift under a New Education Policy, the success of which lies in the hands of our teachers, we bring to you excerpts of lives of some of the most influential and impactful teachers that this world has seen.
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
Popularly known as the missile man of India- having played a key role in India's nuclear tests in 1998, he was a highly accomplished scientist, having received the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990, and Bharat Ratna in 1997.
Coming from a poor fishing family, Kalam had been involved in the task of supplementing his family’s income from an early age. But that did not distract him from pursuing his education with an unshakable determination. It was said that he used to spend hours on his studies and was a bright and hardworking student.
In his biography, he emphasized the role of a teacher he had during the senior years of schooling, who had a non- traditional and innovative approach towards his work. Once, the class was learning about the process of flight in birds, and the teacher saw that most of the students were still pretty confused even after a thorough discussion. So, he decided to take them to a field trip to the beach, where they saw several birds flying and were able to properly grasp the physics behind it.
Teaching was something Kalam considered valuable- for, apart from being a scientist, he was also a professor- he continued to give lectures in various colleges long after his retirement. As he can be quoted saying – “I was a teacher then and I am a teacher now”.
Anne Sullivan
We all remember Helen Keller- the woman who learned to listen, speak, read, write, communicate, and even teach, despite illness rendering her both deaf and blind at an early age. But how many of us remember her teacher and lifelong companion Anne Sullivan- who was responsible for bridging the gap between Helen and the world outside and bringing light into the darkness and loneliness that surrounded her life?
Sullivan herself was partially blind- having contacted trachoma at the age of five. She received her education as a student of the Perkins School for the Blind, and, at the age of twenty, began with the process of teaching and instructing Keller.
Her childhood was full of difficulties. Soon after she contracted the disease which gradually made her nearly blind, her mother died, and her father deserted her and her two siblings in the fear that he wouldn’t be able to raise them on his own. Her brother also died shortly after that, and Anne underwent several unsuccessful eye operations and got shifted from one institution to the next, before finally arriving at Perkins- where she not only learned all of the skills that she used to uplift Keller- but also underwent a surgery that restored part of her vision.
Even though Sullivan had endured many hardships in her life before this, which were the reason for the differences in her behavior and the bullying she faced because of it, it is said that she bonded well with some of the teachers there and made progress in her learning.
She devoted the rest of her entire life to teaching Keller- her life being throughout an example of the huge impact that teaching has.
This list could go on and on- for every teacher has had their role to play in the history of this world we know and making it the way it is. They range from the great Dhronacharya from Mahabharat, or Aryabhatta from ancient India, or Aristotle from ancient Greece- all the way to the people who have taught you and me. As a Japanese proverb says, “Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.”
Image(s) source: Google
Rishita Yadav
(Dayatva Team member)
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