In the past, India’s education system took her way ahead of other nations in art, science and literature. But of late, we have lost the edge by our reluctance to adopt new and improved methods of imparting education. Today, new demands at the workplace require persons with multi-faceted abilities to handle knotty situations efficiently. But unfortunately our present education systems do not prepare people to meet these emerging requirements. If at all we excel in some fields, it is because we still have teachers who are visionaries, who think out of the box. Such an approach has always been fruit-bearing because when knowledge is gained in a comprehensive manner it produces optimum results. We have the best example of this in late Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, for whom the source of inspiration was none other than his own teachers in his early school days.

In the book Reignited: Scientific Pathways To A Brighter Future, co-authored by Dr Kalam and Srijan Pal Singh, Dr Kalam reveals the most important event of his life. He says, “My science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer was discussing in our class ‘how birds fly’. He did so with the help of a bird’s sketch with a tail, wings and head and explained how a bird flew. The same day he took us to the Rameswaram seashore where we saw dozens of seabirds flying. My teacher said, ‘Look how the birds are flapping their wings, now see how they change direction using their wings and tail. What is the locomotive force behind this flight — it is the life energy of the bird’.”

Dr Kalam tells us that that one single lecture transformed his life and led him to make a profession out of his passion: rocket engineering and space flight. The rest is history!

Now that was the kind of impact a teacher could make in the life of a student.

The progress of any nation depends on the system of education adopted by it to guide the future generation. India, even though it has one of the largest chains of educational institutes in the world, yet has failed to modernize the education system. Though we have the technology and the know-how which can help us take learning to the farthest and remotest parts of country through e-learning and m-learning, we prefer to sit idly on an unexplored gold mine, simply because we refuse to leave our comfort zones.

Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated, visionary and noble teachers who continue to make a difference in the lives of young minds, India has produced some innovative minds and nurtured exceptional talents who have excelled in different fields of science and technology. THE TEENAGER TODAY salutes all those noble souls who play a great role in forming, nurturing, challenging and inspiring young minds and hearts. HAPPY TEACHER’S DAY!

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