Happy Teachers' Day To A Wonderful Teacher

Exactly 2 years back on a Teacher's day I met this lady.
The new class teacher of my son.

That was a Teacher's day. As I couldn't attend that well organized teacher's day function at my son's School, I decided to pay a courtesy visit just to greet his new class teacher.

She was young - probably much younger than me.
The way how she presented herself didn't create any positive impression in me.
I had teachers back in my school, who were like mothers to me.
Till date I maintain close contacts with my School teachers, who identified the inner me. The teachers who encouraged me, and appreciated my acts all the time.
They were strict, yet I still have so much respect with a kind of fear whenever I see my teachers.

This young girl looked like a college student. She didn't even wear her saree properly, and all her accessories were not in line with the typical teacher figure we all have in our mind.

To be honest, I was disappointing at the first meeting. Thank God, we didn't interact much then. The meeting was very short, with many other parents like me.

Let me share a small background about my son....

My son was born in Sri Lanka. When he was around 1.5 years, we moved to Hungary.
He attended his playschool in Hungarian, and then joined an international pre-school in English.
By the time he was 5, we moved back to Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately my little son was very poor in Tamil or Sinhalese (the local language of Sri Lanka).
However, the education system in the country demands every child to study in local language (Tamil or Sinhalese medium) with English as their second language.

We thought it wouldn't be a major challenge since the kid was too intelligent for his age, and very fast in grasping everything. Everyone was volunteered to teach him, so that he would be on par with other kids when he attends school.
We thought teaching Alphabets were more than enough for a 5 year old to join the school, but we were wrong. Because his peers could even write a poem in local language by that age

Instead of boosting his confidence level, his then class teacher would always criticize us (specially his mom/me) for complicating the child's future by travelling abroad. She would blame me for his spelling mistakes and reading difficulties.
The child was always behind in the class, and believed that he was good for nothing.

No amount of teaching at home worked, because he didn't believe he could progress.

After 3 long years, this new class teacher joined his school and here goes my experience with her

This new teacher identified his talents, and made him shine in what he could do better. He was good at performing arts, specially in reciting poems and stories on stage in English. She trained him so well, and encouraged him to take part in competitions, that not only gave him awards, but boosted his self confidence.
His peers knew his hidden talents and started respecting him for who he was.

Whenever he said 'I am good for nothing", his teacher showed his awards to prove he is made to win.
She encouraged him, appreciate all his milestones - like reading a paragraph flawlessly, writing 2 lines etc..etc...
She rewarded him with a candy or a pen each time he met his targets, which motivated him to do much more in the coming days.

The child who hated school so much in the past, has started loving his school in less than 6 months time.
His score card showed major progress, and that made us also to believe in him.

She was not at all a hunky dory teacher, who would only appreciate the kids. She focuses more on the kids' discipline, and was very strict in terms of this convent school's regulations.
All the kids, including mine is afraid of her cane, as she is known to punish ill-behaved kids at school.

Last month when we announced our departure to Bangladesh, she literally cried. She had a special bond with my child, and she hoped to make him a winner of the grade 5 scholarship award (which is a very tough IQ competition held island wide in Sri lanka). She believed this award will mold him as a different person towards his adulthood and that is her aim as a teacher.

As you all know, with covid19 and issues, we finally postponed our trip and my son is sitting for the scholarship exam next Sunday.
The teacher is so excited to have him back and to train him (and his peers). She is hell bend to make everyone successful this time.
Despite of so many covid19 related restrictions, she takes tremendous efforts to teach and train her students towards the examination, including giving them personal coaching for free.

Today makes the second year since I met her. She still appears the same, but I have so much respect and love for this wonderful teacher.

Today, after signing his admission form for the examination, I prayed to God to help my child (and others) pass this exam - not just for their personal growth, but for this teacher's love. She deserves a lot more recognition and appreciation for being who she is.

My son is truly blessed to have such a wonderful teacher, who has changed his personality from "good for nothing" to 'a most talented student" in just two years.

I dedicate this post to the best Teacher Bishra, and wish her Happy teacher's day.

I kindly request all of you to wish & bless my son for his upcoming Scholarship examination.

 

We were on the same boat while growing up due to dad's profession and many other matters with regards to the country's security situation back then.

I studied at a small school in my home town till grade 5, then moved to France for a while, from there we moved to Canada and then as adult we returned back to home country to a different city. Within the countries where we lived in the past, we had shifted to 2-3 new schools (from primary to secondary, from private school to public school etc).
Then did my bachelor's degree at home and masters in another foreign country.
It was tough on us for sure. But it was much much better than letting one or two parents go and live in boarding schools or with a relative back then.
We, as kids adapted so quickly, and made new friends, and learned to face the challenges that were thrown at us.

Our uncles and aunts were very much against to our living style and always commented negatively.
But fast forward to today, we siblings are very much exposed to life, and do very very successful than our cousins.
It is not just about education or making money, but also handling troubles in life.

For ex: If any other women were on my shoes, I am sure she would have committed suicide long back or given up everything because of the turbulence we faced due to inter faith marriage. But I bounced back, and resumed my life successfully by controlling everything that hindered my past.

Similarly, I admire the way how my brother is handling his child's illness these days.
His loving first born DD of 5 years has been diagnosed with leukemia and the Drs were hopeless earlier with few constant ICU admissions. They as family fought this battle very strongly and now she is in maintanance and out of danger and doing so well.
My brother singlehandedly managed this financial (treatment in a foreign hospital), emotional and physical strain while successfully managing both his profession and business together. Had it been any average person, he would have given up so much in life during this trying time.

We actually discuss this at home, and acknowledge to each other that we are strong, and our strong nature is a result of the exposure and experience we had back in our childhood.

So, I am definitely not against this, though kids feel uneasy at times about such decisions.