Teachers Day, what it means for us

We have come a long way since the days when Teachers Day was celebrated with great solemnity as a one-day occasion and importance to a time when it has become more of a two-day celebration, one within the school with students and the other as a Teachers' Day out. While we tend to forget the reason why we celebrate Teachers Day on the fifth of September rather than the fifth of October, (Dr.S.Radahkrishnan's Birthday) issues like protests against the kind of treatment meted out to teachers today, and the issues related to the security in schools have all diluted the essence of celebrating the thankless jobs of out Nation Builders. My father, who happened to study for his graduation and Bachelor of Education at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in the early sixties told me about how Teachers Day was celebrated as Ek Din Ka Madarsa in the University. What it meant was that students took over the mantles of teachers and they ran the entire school. 

Later when I taught in a Govt. Aided School in Roop Nagar, Delhi, Teachers Day was an event for which preparations began a day earlier with a careful selection of student, mostly from grade twelve and grade eleven. Students would select their favourite teacher and then take his timetable for the next day. In many cases, this roleplay would provide the teacher with a chance to look at himself through the student playing his role. 

The day the event was celebrated, teachers would take their regular places during assembly, and then the students would be introduced and then they would take over the assembly itself. The best part of the day would be when the student-teachers and their teachers came together at the end of the day and the students then shared their experiences for the day. Most of them would exclaim how difficult it was to handle the students! It is moments like these when students get to appreciate the role of teachers in an age where parents find handling even a single child sensibly so difficult!

Today we might be able to celebrate Teachers Day on two different occasions, one with the students and another with the staff and management. While this might seem perhaps a bit overboard, the idea of having time with other coleagues other than with students where one might not be able to behave like "authentic children" might perhaps tip the balance in favour of having two celebrations! Howso it might be, it is the little gestures of gratitude from the students that bring a smile to the teacher. 

A mugshot of me (Great, where did they get this from!) greeted me when I entered the hall where the students had prepared a cultural event for all the teachers. Stretched across a long string that ran the length of the auditorium were posters such as the one above for each teacher in the senior programme. The greatest thing was that we were told at the end of the programme, that we could take these with us! The students celebrated Teachers Day on the 28th of August because of their first term exams that took place from the fourth of September. All the photographs are a glimpse into how we celebrated Teachers' Day in school with our students and ourselves.