Respected Teachers,
I write this letter to you to acknowledge your selfless service to mankind and to bring into your kind notice the gruesome worries confronting me day in and day out. It is an established reality and I reckon that you are the creator, designer and director of heart, mind and soul of a child. You engage, inspire and empower your students every single day and I want you to know that we, your students, notice how much you care. You have parents love and friend’s care harbored in your heart.It was your unmatched love and care that insisted you to risk your life and arrange community classes for us in COVID 19 crises. So accept my gratitude for that.Your are the real change makers. You are changing the fortune of your students with a sweet mixture of chalk and challenge. You have shown us that words work where swords fail. You build a nation in its classrooms and make this world a better place,a place worth living. Thanks for all the angelic services you are rendering to the society. But it is very painful for me to write you that while you are working with zeal and zest to ensure my bright future but I still continue to be a prey of certain challenges which go unnoticed. These challenges pose a serious threat to my smooth development. I’m taking this opportunity to bring those challenges to fore with a strong belief that you will help me out of those challenges. Nothing is more hateful to me than the corporal punishment in schools. Schools are the temples of learning, love and reasonable liberty but not Hitler’s interrogation centres. Believe me, I try my best to do well in academics and abide by the rules and regulations of school. However, sometimes my childish nature gets better off me and I indulge in making mischiefs. It annoys you, which is understood. But, you resort to physical punishment, which is uncalled for. You have an authority on me . But, instead of caning you can give me some extra homework or lower the duration of my recess break. It will be more effective to mould my behavior. I’m terrified at the mere sight of stick(cane) in your hand. It humiliates me a lot when I’m made to stand in front of whole class and canes fell on my body. It does more bad than good to me. It kills my morales when for a little mistake you pull my ear and I run the risk of developing low set ear medical condition. Prior to joining the school, I have a handsome chunk of knowledge to my credit which I have achieved from my family members, neighbors and friends. So, don’t think that you are going to teach a blank brain when I’m admitted in your school. Use my existing knowledge and teach me. My existing knowledge can be an effective ramp for me to understand difficult concepts quite easily. Sometimes while teaching, you maintain a prolonged eye contact with a particular student in the class. The dozen others feel silently excluded. Eye contact of 2-3 seconds with each student acts as an invitation to effectively take part in whatever you are presenting. Students feel involved. So, next time you teach a class , kindly take care.
Dear teachers, you are the most civilized person walking on the surface of earth. Your polished language and selection of best possible words in conversation is loved and admired by all and sundary. But unfortunately sometimes you resort to name calling when you find that I haven’t stood upto your expectations. Your name calling sneaks its way right into my heart and pinches painfully there. You call me donkey, ass, and owl. Dear teachers, these are the names of animals and birds. I’m a human , kid of a human and I have a lovely name. Call me by my name. I come from a loving family. My parents and siblings love me a lot. I’m filled with love upto brim. I understand no language but the language of love. However, pathetic when you scowl me and squeal at me.I have a quarry and want to ask you .I steal a loving glance at your face to see if your mode allows me to ask but your perpetual stone grim look fills my tender heart with fear and the day passes without me getting my answer. Ever since I joined the school, I have been told that sound mind lies in a sound body.It is an established reality that all work and no play make jack a dull boy. Sports develop social qualities in students. It develops in them a team spirit, and makes them disciplined, honest and truthful. Playing boosts the metabolism and circulation of blood in our body. It relieves depression and boosts mental health. So give me a proper time to play. I am fully aware that you are overburdened with work. But my care and study still tops your priority list. I am also aware that schools are staff starved. So, I won’t mind if you ask my senior in school to teach me.I will will call him/her my mini teacher. I won’t also mind if you teach me in a multi-grade class.I come from a humble background. My parents are illiterate and we still reside in a mud shack. Poverty had been major impediment in my parents’ education. But they are working hard to teach me. They dream big for me. They are putting their sweat and blood to ensure I get all my necessities fulfilled. But you see, the prices of essential commodities have gone sky-rocketing . My parents find it hard to make both ends to meet. How sweet of you if you educate me and my parents about diverse scholarships and other facilities which government is providing to students like me. I am sure it will lower their burden a bit.
Dear teachers, I confide in you that you will work on these grey areas this year and pull me safely out of these challenges
Thanks for bearing me with me.
Sincerely yours
Your student
Bashir Ahmad Dar
(The author a teacher by profession working in education zone Vailoo Anantnag. Views are his own)
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