“I should make class fun by having a discussion with students, as they are already tired from their consecutive science classes,” thought Tr Aarti, the English teacher of Class 12.

‘What do you want to become in life?’ was the topic. The students replied enthusiastically that they wanted to become doctors, engineers, IAS officers, businessmen, lawyers, scientists, etc.

Then Tr Aarti wrote on the blackboard, ‘Does anyone want to become a teacher?’

No hand rose and there was pin drop silence in the class. Tr Aarti then wrote out a third point, ‘Why don’t you want to become a teacher?’

The students replied saying that teaching was a low-paying job and the status of a teacher in society had declined as compared to the olden days.

“Who wants to become a teacher for a day on Teachers’ Day?” asked Tr Aarti.

Suddenly, all hands rose high in the air.

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Apart from our doctors and nurses, I feel the only other profession to get hit the hardest due to Covid-19, was teaching. Our teachers were flung into an almost alternate world — planning lessons and teaching them online with absolutely no notice or training. Whoever saw this coming? To have to do this for a day or a week is understandable. But to do it two years in a row is rather inconceivable. And yet our teachers did it. They dug deep as they always do, and delivered perfectly.

A teacher who was modern, open-minded, with a social media presence, for example, was more proficient in having an online classroom. He/she adapted faster. A teacher who was shy and avoided the camera his/her entire life, felt awkward and put on the spot.

And the children went through the same thing. A shy child versus an outgoing one, a reserved one versus a confident one, an awkward one versus a sure-of-himself/herself one. You might argue that this was the case in physical school too, and you’d be right. But it came more to light during online school.

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