A student’s heart’s revelation in a form of a story is here! It is exhilarating to see how a young student of Grade VII, (Aryabhatta Section) of Manav Rachna International School, Mohali has tried to express her feelings for her mentor and devised a heartwarming tale about her, whom she finds a source of inspiration. The story has been polished and edited carefully to bring out the real essence of emotions -Editor

One day, in Manav Rachna International School, Mohali, a student named Riya meets a girl named Maya. Maya seemed to be lost and attracted Riya’s attention.

 “Hi! My name is Riya. What is your name?” asked Riya.

 Maya replied, “My name is Maya. It’s nice to meet you! Can you help me? I am new to the school, and to be honest, I am a little scared.”

 “There is no need to be scared; if you need any help, just come to me, and I will help you out,” Riya spoke cheerfully.

Maya replied, “Actually, I do need help, I have recently moved here from Delhi because my father has been transferred to this city. I want to know about the teachers here, because, honestly, teachers are so important. They are the pinnacle of knowledge and inspiration.”

Riya replied, “Life has three stages childhood, adulthood, and old age, but I believe the most important one is childhood. In this stage, our brains are like sponges, picking up whatever value, way of speech, or knowledge near us. School is a great example of this, so I think your feelings are right.”

Maya, who was much interested in Riya’s revelations, said, “I totally agree! Our company affects us so much. In good company, we become obedient, responsible, and intelligent whereas, in bad company we become disobedient, procrastinate, and are unable to focus.”

Riya raised a point, “Teachers hugely impact us, slowly shaping us into good citizens for the country, though the way we are brought up in our childhood is surely reflected in our adulthood. I remember reading somewhere that studies say, students spend six to sixteen years of their life in school. Imagine! Such a long period of time just around your chosen company! This proves how much the people close to us can affect our entire life. Not only friends and classmates affect us, but also our teachers play a huge role in this case.”

Maya added, “A supportive teacher can make us feel happy, and help us achieve our goals, but an indifferent teacher can make us feel discouraged in a subject and further make us feel like we are not smart. Every student needs guidance in life, from when they are five to when they are twenty or even more. A good teacher provides this guidance to help lost students return to their life path. A not-up-to-the-mark teacher could completely ignore the fact that students get lost in their thoughts. A good teacher also provides emotional support, but the indifferent one can make a student feel senseless and confused.”

Riya replied, “I personally prefer to keep myself obedient, responsible, polite, and respect everyone, young or old.”

Maya said, “I have experienced both good, and apathetic teachers and there is no question about this that everyone loves a great teacher. Especially in the grades sixth to twelfth, one requires a good teacher who can make everyone understand the base concepts that will stay with us for our entire life.”

Riya commented, “To be honest, I don’t believe that teachers are not up to the mark! We never know what someone is going through in their lives. Being a teacher is not an easy job; there are multiple tasks at hand that have to be completed even after school hours.”

Maya said, “I have been to almost seven schools as my father is in the army. Thus, I have seen many teachers and some of them have humiliated me for getting things wrong while some have helped me rectify that mistake.”

 Feeling very intrigued, Riya said “Is it so? This is a great point you have raised. It’s so cool that your father is in the army. Teachers are the next closest to a student, after their family and such a close relationship will create huge impact on a child’s mentality. Not only academic teachers but extra-curricular activity teachers are extremely important as they help to develop skills other than knowledge pertaining to a subject and guide one to find one’s passion in life.”

Maya replied, “I definitely agree with all that you are saying; it feels very nice to have someone to have a good discussion with.”

 Riya chirped, “Same here! I have also been to quite a few schools in my life, but even after going to so many schools, I still find that the teachers at Manav Rachna International School, Mohali to be the best. All the teachers here are so inspiring, dedicated, and great at explaining concepts.”

 Maya felt very interested and asked, “Is that so? Well, then who is your favourite?”

Riya suddenly fell into deep thought, and then replied, “Honestly, I don’t know. This is really a difficult question because all of our teachers are amazing. But, if I had to answer this question, I would put in the name of the best teacher I have ever met, and that is,  Navpreet Baweja ma’am, our English teacher.”

Maya noted the name down in her memory and then asked, “What makes her so special?”

 Riya was ready with an answer and, in the blink of an eye, replied, “She always gives everyone equal opportunities to participate in fun activities and competitions. She is charming, dedicated, and certainly someone who has inspired me and will continue to do so. She made English my favourite subject and like a magician transformed boring and difficult grammar topics into fun and easy chapters. I especially like to study Literature with her as she is a great reader as well and makes stories come to life.”

Maya was very impressed as she said, “Wow! She sounds like a great teacher. Tell me more about her!”

 Riya continued, “I remember during the PTM, she called me a ‘gem’ in the class and told my parents that I write very well. She thinks I have good vocabulary and can have a future in English literature. Do you see what I mean? I was never very good at grammar and would always make multiple mistakes, but Navpreet ma’am has helped me overcome that flaw and taught me to focus on my best qualities. She constantly compliments the best in kids who are not very confident in English to encourage and motivate them.”

 Maya said, “She appears just to be getting better and better; I hope I meet her today so I can see all of this for myself. Everything you said suggests she is very helpful.”

 Riya continued,, “she is always ready to help any student. When I was new in the school, the ‘pre-mids’ were arriving and I was tensed. She  understood and was very empathetic and sweet to me, cajoling me to  approach her at any moment if I faced difficulty in understanding any chapter or topic.”

Maya quickly replied, “She sounds like a fantastic teacher! It will feel good to have such a wonderful  teacher! Honestly, I have dealt with such apathetic teachers, that I never tried to approach anyone of them for any kind of help. There was this teacher at my old school who kept giving us much work with the deadline being too short for the same. Another was always so rude to students calling them slow learners. To avoid being questioned by their parents, she used to act so nice during the PTMs. Governments have banned corporal punishments but have not banned this way of punishment.”

Riya said, this is a terrible way to behave as a teacher. I also think verbal insults are so much more self-deprecating for the students than physical punishments and I totally agree that is not acceptable. I have also experienced my fair share of apatthetic teachers. One of them believed that girls should be quieter and less smart while boys should be good at studies and aggressive. I really thought we had moved forward from that basic idea about the ‘roles’ of gender. Another teacher of mine was always extremely strict about mistakes. I remember making a small mistake of writing happiness as happyness, I mean that isn’t a very serious mistake, I just wasn’t thinking something else at that time or must have accidentally written it and forgotten to correct it, but it was made into such a big issue and I was humiliated  in front of the class. I was so embarrassed.”

Maya was clearly very shocked and replied, “I am so sorry you had to deal with all of that.

Riya decided to lighten the mood and said, “A teacher with a sense of humour makes the student interested in lectures and creates a very positive impact. If a teacher has sense of humor, it will make the students very happy, and excited to attend their school and get good grades. A teacher who doesn’t have a sense of humour and adaptability, pulls down students’ morale.”

Maya replied, “That’s an interesting take. Many believe that humor can disturb the class and distract students from studying. I think that there should be fun in class but in a controlled manner and only for some time so the students don’t get too diverted.”

Riya said, “That’s a good point. We don’t need to worry about apathetic teachers at this school and it’s great like I said. I hope everyone gets only amazing teachers in their school life.”

Maya said, “I hope the same. Hey, doesn’t the next slot start in five minutes? We should probably go and get ready. You are very entertaining and inspiring; Can we be friends?”

Riya smiled and replied, “Of course, we can be friends! I find you extremely fun to talk to and I am sure we will have much more such great conversations very soon. If you require any help, make sure to come to me and I will help to sort everything out.”

Maya said, “Thank you for everything; let’s go to the class now.”

At the end of the day, teachers have, are, and will be the most inspiring, invaluable, and illuminating people in students’ lives. So let us adhere to their valuable sayings to be successful in our lives.

Thank you!

Author: Kritika Sharma- Grade – VII Aryabhatta, MRIS Mohali, Navpreet Baweja, PGT, MRIS Mohali.