गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णु र्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः; गुरुरेव परंब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवेनमः . Gururbrahmaa Gururvishnu Gururdevo Maheshvarah | Gurureva Parambrahma Tasmai ShriGurave Namah The above Shloka means the Guru is Brahma, the Guru is Vishnu, the Guru is Deva Maheswara (Shiva). The Guru is , in fact, the Parbrahman (Supreme Brahman). Salutations to that Guru. From the above Shloka, it is very clear as to what was the place of the Guru in our society. Yesterday i.e. on 5th. September, we celebrated teachers day. On this occasion, we have an opportunity to make introspection to find out as to what is the place of the Guru in our social system today. Whether, Guru in real sense exists these days too? If not, then why? For the convenience sake, I am using the word, ‘teacher’ for the word Guru even though in my view there is lot of difference between a Guru and a teacher. Before proceeding to make observations about the teachers of the present day, their value in the society, their commitment about their students etc., I would like to share some of the experiences which I felt in my school days (upto 12 th. Standard). When I was in primary school, there was teacher whose name was Shri Vishnu Upadhyaya. He belonged to a village which was about 4 km away from my village. His arithmetic was very strong and he was the man of strong principles. He had commanded respect from all the people of my village. For school children, he was like very hard in his approach. He used to pull up any student who was found deficient. If any student was pulled, he could not dare to approach his parents with complaint against him because he knew that he would again be pulled up by their parents. He was the headmaster of the primary school. He never got late. The school children used to play in the school ground till the teachers came . While playing, however, the children used to look in the direction wherefrom Shri Vishnu Upadhyaya used to come. We, school children, could recognize him on the basis of his dress, gait etc. from a distance of about 1/2km. As soon as school children’s eyes caught him even from distance of about ½ km, all the children used to stop playing, sit in the class and open and begin to read the books. As soon as he reached the school, he used to begin stock taking of the students in the school. During the course of stock taking, if it was found that someone was not present in the school, he used to gather information about the absentee from the students who were present in the school. In the absence of plausible and convincing information, he used to send at least two students to the parents of the absentee for enquiry. On enquiry, if it was found that the absentee was also not there at home, he used to send a team of the students to locate the whereabouts of the absentee and forcefully bring him to the school. Was it the job of the teacher to anyhow bring the student to the school? What was the interest of the teacher? The answer is very clear. As per law, he was neither required nor bound to ensure the presence of the student in the school. He was not paid for the extra efforts which the teachers made to impart education to more and more children. Their only interest was that the pass percentage of the school might be higher as compared to the other school. The competition was there among the schools but that was not for expansion of the school business as is now but merely for the accolades. After the primary school, I came to the middle school. We were the first students of the middle school. When I was in 7th Class, four very good teachers each for English, Maths, Science and Sanskrit were came to our school. These teachers had tremendous impact on me. I was the brightest student of the class. All the aforesaid teachers left no stone unturned to make me master of their own subject. Their individual efforts made me so strong that , by and large, I used to get 100% marks in each of Maths, Science and Sanskrit. In English too, I used to get 100% marks in grammar portion. My Sanskrit had become so strong that, in 7th Class itself, I composed definition of ‘ALANKAR’ in Sanskrit. It was as follows: “Yah Kaveshwathvakhyaneshwalankoroti Ityuchchate Aankarsti”. Sanskrit teacher was really a scholar of Sanskrit language. He also a poet. He had so much impact on that I started composing poetry when I was in 7th itself. He also developed spiritualism in me. On the other hand, the concept of science teacher was very clear. He developed scientific temperament. Maths teacher was a Muslim. He was very good in algebra. He made the concept of maths clear to me. He used to be called as Maulavi Sahib. He once said to me that ‘no student is dull, it is the teacher who is dull’. Therefore, he always impressed upon me not to cram a subject but to try and try to understand. This was the Mantra which I have made my integral part. When I was in 8th , ours was the second batch of the 8th class. It was the desire of the aforesaid four teachers that no students of our batch might fail. They were also expecting that two students of my batch would find place top ten students of the district. In order to achieve the goal, it was decided by them that at least one of them would stay in the school in the night for coaching the students of class 8. Accordingly, we the students of 8th class used to attend coaching at night in the school and stay in school itself. No extra fees was charged for the coaching by the teachers. The parents had to simply arrange for foods. The concerted efforts made by the teachers yielded fruitful result. All the students passed the exam. Three of them passed with first division. I was among those threes students. My name was, however, not among the top 10 students of the district. This fact, however, surprised everyone including the teachers. All were expecting that I would certainly find a place in the merit list. It was shocking for me too. The news was so shocking for me that I could venture out of my house those days. On one day, someone brought a news to me about my marks. He told me that I had obtained only 8 marks out of 50 marks in Geography. For me, the mystery was solved. It was a 100% mistake in placing the marks in the roll. The teachers called me in the school and enquired me about the reasons. I told them that for me the paper was very easy and there was no question of obtaining marks below 40 out of total marks of 50. I told them that I must have got 10 out of 10 in Map alone. When I was in 11th class in an Intermediate College, some students demanded from the College principal to allow them to form Student Union. We, the Science students were, however, opposed to the said demand because those students were in fact the trouble makers. After initial hiccups, the principal of our college accepted their demand following which election process started. As the science students, were opposed to the formation of Student Union, in order to counter those students, the science students persuaded me to enter the election fray. I too agreed and decided to fight the election for the post of the president. When this news reached Shri Madan Chaubey, a Maths Lecturer, for whom I had profound regard, he called me and pulled up as to how I, a bright student, dared to land myself in the trap of these students who had nothing to do with study. Chiding me he asked as to how could I betray the expectation of the college by compromising with study. I was overwhelmed with the sentiments expressed by Shri Madan Chaubey who had no parallel in maths in many schools. I conveyed his sentiments to the science students and opted out of the fray. We, the students of science, however, decided not to allow the union leaders to derail the session. We declared that if the union did not involve in constructive, we would not pay fees. When I was in B.Sc, I usually did not pay heed to the class lectures. My habit was to extensively read the subject with the result that sometimes I used to go beyond the course. This was noticed by a Professor of physics. He called me to his chamber and taunted saying that if I continued to ignore the class lecture I might become S L Loney or Gorakh Prasad, the mathematicians but I could not make to the M.Sc for which not only fist division in B.Sc was required but high marks were also required. Since then he was watchful over me to ensure that I was paying due attention in the class. I was again overwhelmed with the concern which a professor had shown for me. In another instance, I was attending the class of Geology. The professor noticed that I had chewed betel. When the class was over, he told me to go to his chamber. I followed his instruction and went to his chamber. There, he narrated his own story about the habit of chewing betel and because of which he was suffering. He told me about the amount which he was spending on betel and because of which his economic condition was not good. He warned me from being addicted to betel chewing. His counsel prevailed upon me and since then I am not addicted to anything else even tea etc. Why I am narrating these experiences which I had felt in my school days, college days and university days. In fact, by narrating these incidents, I wish to come forth that the teachers, the lecturers and the professors to whom I have made reference had shaped my personality and the said personality is more or less intact these days too. They had so much impression upon me that my head bow only before the teachers and not before anyone else. They really played the role of Pathpradarshak for me. Today, it seems that the teachers have lost their importance. They have been forced by us to cease to be Gurus or Pathpradarshak. We often see reports in the newspapers in which it is mentioned that the concerned teacher had been arrested by police because he had beaten a student. What message such reporting sends to the society? When a student goes to his parents with a complaint that a teacher had beaten him, the parents reacts harshly. They forget that no teacher beats a student as a matter of habit. Beating a student is exception and a solitary instance can be ignored. But no. Parents want punishment for such teachers. Media too is not lagging behind. For a solitary incident, the teachers lose respect in the eyes of the students. Neither the parents nor the student has any respect for the teacher. In such a situation, how can we expect that the teacher will play true role? What is the purpose of celebrating the teachers day if the neither we nor our children pay true respect to the teachers? Who are responsible for this- we, the parents or our children or the society as a whole or the teachers themselves? My answer is that the society responsible. The mad rush for material gains which has gripped the whole society is responsible for degeneration of every institution of the society. The only remedy of all the ills which our society is facing is imparting value based education right from the primary stage to the last.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 18:19:32 +0000
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