Our Education sector is stuff swollen with human resource of excellent calibre. We have excellent students, exemplary HOIs, exquisite teachers, wonderful officers and lovely supporting staff. There are gems and diamonds at every rung who need proper care and adequate recognition for their marvelous merit. On the occasion of Teachers day previous year a very bright and inspiring teacher from zone vailoo named Aeijaz Ahmad Malik unfolded a very unique and innovative move to celebrate our own otherwise unsung heroes. He suggested celebrating the unsung heroes at local school level or zonal level and letting others know about them by putting a few words in their praise in official whatsapp group of zone vailoo. While I too knitted a few sentences in praise of my one fellow colleague that time to celebrate him on teachers day I firmly believe, as is my belief, that every day is teachers day and we should not miss to bring fore the teacher the moment we find him/her inspiring in any way. I am the sharing here under the working experience I have had with two such sensational and stupendous teachers.
Mansoor Ahmad Sheikh: When it comes to built out of shambles ,to construct out of ruins Mr Mansoor Ah Sheikh has no parallel. His way of teaching is incredible. Mr Mansoor is a resident of Gohan Vailoo Anantnag and has been working in education sector since March 2004. I have been lucky enough to serve students alongside him as his humble colleague. Back a year or so we were caught in a tricky situation at MS Ichoo,a school falling in education zone Vailoo. A girl of class 3rd aged ten was suffering from mirror writing to the extent that the case seemed to me a hopeless one. Exhausted of Playing every trick in book to cure her I finally decided to seek the help of a neuropsychologist. Mr Mansoor heard of my plan and politely asked me to hand over the case to him. In a matter of few weeks with his utmost love,care and affection the girl began to write correctly. I was awe struck. “How could u do that sir?” I asked Mansoor Ahmad. His reply sent shivers down my spine and got every blade stand to the tip. His answer was simply the best one I have heard so far. He replied,” With love and passion you can even move mountains. Until and unless we look to them(students) through the prism of parental eye they will not learn anything.” Mansoor believes in Knowledge Building. He says and I quote that nobody is born blank and blunt. Everybody possesses a handsome chunk of knowledge which can be easily used as an effective ramp to build more knowledge. It will be gaining knowledge from pre existing knowledge. Though he never gave it a name but his method of teaching is a blend of scaffolding and cooperative teaching techniques. For him the culture of absenteeism or otherwise known as thin attendence, particularly prevalent in rural areas is the main hurdle in imparting quality education and so a silent killer of education sector in rural areas. This termite of poor attendance devour on the illiteracy of parents he believes. According to him this vicious culture of poor attendance can be only done away with the proper parent sensitization with regard to the importance of education in modern times and deleterious effects of absenteeism and PTMs furnish us this chance. He stresses on frequent PTMs ( Parent Teacher Meetings) which is of course in sync with departmental procedure which says that all schools should call PTM at least once in a month. Mr Mansoor establishes a positive communication with his students and this enables him to know them better and teach them efficiently. He encourages students to communicate with him in and outside classroom to understand them and their problems more clearly and seek appropriate remedy. He has been habitual of encouraging students to apply learnt concepts in their lives and connect knowledge to everyday life situations. He believes and I reckon that if a student can’t connect taught content to his day to day life he has not learnt anything. Such content is only a burden on the poor nerves of the student and such teaching is only a cruel joke with teaching profession. Mr Mansoor keeps a healthy track record of his every taught and knows the knows their learning level and that’s what makes him special . Dear teachers and aspiring teachers if I am asked to suggest you an ideal teacher to emulate from among those I have had worked with till now pointing Mansoor I would say “Hamein-ast”
“Every day is teachers day and we should not miss to bring fore the teacher the moment we find him/her inspiring in any way”.
2) Hilal Ahmad Wani: Another teaching beauty which comes to my mind as I think of teachers with exceptional teaching skills is HilAL Ahmad Wani, a 2014 batch SSRB recruitee.While many those who teach and are in the system are there by chance Mr Hilal is here by choice. Attired handsomely and wearing pulchritudinous smile ,the man charms every student .Hailing from Budusgam village of district Anantnag Mr Hilal holds twin masters in English and Sociology and enjoys firm grip on both the subjects . After his appointment he was posted in zone vailoo. Here HS Nabough became his first place of posting and he taught there for six years. Because of his philanthropic nature and child centered pedagogical skills Hilal rose to rule the hearts of his taught in shortest span of time . He earned a well deserved name and fame for himself there. Thereafter he was transferred to sister educational zone Bidder where he served for a couple of years and recently got transferred back to zone Vailoo. Currently he is posted at Govt MS Fremoh and I take my measure of proud in being his colleague and learn from him. I found Hilal a man of gentle heart and sober thought, a man of very lovely presence and fine carriage, exceedingly beloved and the delight of his colleagues. His ways of teaching are exceptionally workable, purely effective and easily reproducible. I have found his teaching method student engaging, child centered, age appropriate and goal oriented and superbly appalling. Whatever content he delivers he makes it relevant to student values and goals. He prompts students to learn and retain the flame of enthusiasm for learning kindled. Though he has never revealed it to his fellow colleagues he silently set weekly goals and strive hard to achieve them, which is quiet evident from enthusiasm he displays for teaching and the remarkable progress students show in the subjects he teach. He too believes in love and affection and is popular among his colleagues as the man with golden heart. Be it spending from his own pocket for school upliftment and student cause or lending hand in manual work like sweep cleaning the rooms, mopping dust off walls or beating dust off the matting Hilal has always been at the front. He is transparent like glass and student has had always been his priority. He displays patience, perseverance, wisdom and humility all time. He radiates inspiration and innovativeness. Fully laced with knowledge and teaching approaches he leaves no stone unturned to build the future of sapless kids with sweet concoction of chalk and challenge. Working alongside him is like a dream come true. It is a sort of blessing from Almighty. Every student deserves a Hilal in his learning adventure. May Hilal continue to shine the way of those caught in dark? (Aameen!)
(The author is a teacher by profession. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
[email protected]
