I was a college teacher nearly for thirty seven years,in Nehru Memorial College, Puthanampatti, a reputed rural college in Tamil Nadu.It was a pleasure to be an English teacher for students,most of whom were drawn from nearby villages,and neighbouring taluk head quarters of Tiruchirappalli,Salem and South Arcot districts,then.When I started my teaching career,it was only a men's college and later on,it was converted into a co- educational institution,in the mid Nineteen Eighties.
Those days,the interview procedures were rather down to earth,and the principal &secretary of that college who happily appointed me,adopted an empirical question and answer procedure,and he might also have exercised a kind of face reading efficacy,based on which he would have considered me fit for the job.Owing to the prevalent transport difficulties those days,I could not reach for the interview on time,but still providence was behind me,pushing me into the employer's head,as a prospective teacher of head and heart,to ably fit into the rural box,with a spontaneous flair for both English and Tamil.
The nearly four decades of my career could be split decade wise,with credits and defects on my side,to go in for a genuine self-appraisal.My initial years were full of jam packed teaching sessions,at times with even four out of five teaching hours,on certain days.My throat volume was the best friend of mine,and even in some training programmes it attracted the attention of some resources personnel.But still my soaring throat after a two continuous hours of lecturing,would ask for a full glass of double tea.
I had the flow of language both in terms of English and Tamil.But I do not know how inspiring I was,though periodically,I used to receive appreciative letters from many students.My foremost weakness was my erratic handling of the blackboard,writing relevant words,phrases and even sentences, on the black board,wherever I could find space, instead of using appropriate aesthetic features,that the board required.I do not know how much the black board would have suffered and cried.
However,my teaching spell in the Nineteen Seventies was really a felicitous experience, with willing contribution from my end, to co-curricular and extra-curricular activities assigned to me and appreciated by the college management.Fixing chief guests for functions and escorting them to our college was an additional responsibility given to me during the starting spell of my career.One such event I remember was,escorting Prof.K.Aludiapillai IAS,Principal of Periyar EVR college Tiruchirappalli,who afterwards became District collector and then the Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University.I was also a hostel proctor and deputy warden of the students hostel,between 1970 and 1975
Majority of the students in the Nineteen Seventies,were responsive and eager to learn,with outstanding modesty and flexibility. During the early Seventies,the institution also permitted the teachers to give private tuition to students on specified fees per year,with the tuition strength not exceeding six students per teacher.
My earlier teaching sessions were frequently observed by the Principal and Secretary,who used to stand at some corner,outside my class room,and watch my mode of teaching and the class control that I had, because I was just 21 plus when I took up my job, and my students were 18 or nineteen years of age.Weekly compositions for two hours,were rigorously adhered to,and this was followed by a meticulous correction process,that would point out the spelling and grammatical errors made by the students,besides mentioning the corrected version of those mistakes.The pass percentage of students drew significant attention from the college management,for a teacher's confirmation of service.
The one day annual picnic of all the staff and the head of the institution to nearby picnic spots, proved to be an experience in endearment, coupled with enjoyment. With literary association meetings, sports day events, and college day celebrations, the entire year used to be running on a busy track, moulding posterity to lead a progressive and value based life.I was in charge of the college music club and the social service league,for a few years.
On the whole, the first ten years of my job passed on, as a golden period in my life. But still, there appeared as a jinx, that caused a slight misunderstanding between me and my department head, following an incident involving my defiant behaviour against him. It took place in 1975 or 1976.After that incident, it so happened that I made a few totaling mistakes, in my consolidation of the internal assessment mark list. This led my HOD to send me a letter of censure blaming me for my negligence of duty that seriously saddened me. Luckily, as a redeeming factor, the concluding sentence of his letter said "I am sorry to write this to an able, efficient and trustworthy member of my department''. The last sentence remained closer to my heart and the rest of his negative remarks vanished like thin air. After this, our intimacy grew by leaps and bounds.
The Nineteen eighties were torn between frequent strikes by teachers& government employees with hitting bouts of guilt about shirking responsibility and commitment expected of a teacher, towards the student community. Nevertheless, without those agitational programmes, teachers and and other employees could never have seen their legitimate life standards become a living and lasting reality.
It was during that decade,our college attained regional repute,as the first Arts and Science college in Tamil Nadu,to offer computer science courses.This led to a new generation of learners,whose futuristic goals and job guarantees made them assessors of the teachers,including those who taught them English.This decade also continued the two hour composition schedule, that would have provided a solid ladder for the linguistic development of many students towards an error-free use of written English.
To me an interesting incident occurred during an academic year of the same decade.A huge number of students of a Science branch, wanted me to teach the whole play 'Julius Caesar', only in Tamil. When I rejected their demand, excepting one student, all the others boycotted my class on a day. However, following my rigid and rightful stance, they attended my classes from my next session.
During that decade, my self-esteem had to be straightened more, with a greater quest for what best English could do, for a hopefully employable group of students. Precision in presentation became more important. My use of the black board improved to a considerable extent and I was double sure about not misspelling any word.But still once I misspelt the word 'cemetery' as 'cemetry',during the last hour of a morning session.At lunch time, after verification of the correct spelling of the word,I visited the class during the first hour of the afternoon session of the same day,when a subject teacher was handling the class.With an apology to the teacher for my interruption, I entered the class,and corrected the misspelt word,that was still taunting me,undeleted from the black board.
Some of my errors in pronunciation were corrected on subsequent days and I always saw to it that my spot errors did not become a part of the students' learning process,by way of misguiding them in their future use of English.This was because,in a Summer Institute programme when I was teaching pronunciation of some English words from a lesson,I mispronounced the word 'esoteric', putting the stress on's'instead of 't'.During the post teaching assessment of my teaching session,a resource personnel pointed out my error and I felt sorry for that.
Many teachers instinctively carry both the inspiration and weaknesses of their teachers on their brains.While my fluency was drawn from one of my most venerated teachers of the college where I studied for six years,{from pre university to post graduation},my habit of teaching by sitting on the table for a few minutes, was influenced by my two other teachers. Later on, I realized that it was an unfair practice, and mended my mistake for the remaining years of my teaching career.
In the middle of that decade, an unforgettable incident took place. A bright student from the B.Com branch, was mistakenly disallowed to continue his examination, by the Chief Superintendent of the university examinations. He was asked to leave the examination hall abruptly after two hours,{that was his last paper too} under the presumption that he violated the rules of conduct, meant for the candidates of the examination. Though he had secured creditable marks in that exam, his results were withheld by the university. I took up the issue with the then Controller of Examination of the university concerned, and made the authorities conclude, that he was a meritorious student, unduly affected by a context of misunderstanding. Subsequently, his results were published and that bright student later got a job abroad.
From the Nineteen Nineties,computer education became a predominant academic discipline,and the position of the teacher in the class room became very delicate and a bit vulnerable too.This was due to an assumption among a section of learners,that they knew better than their teachers. This assumption was specifically noticed among students from the urban elite families.But still,quite a lot of students who hailed from the rural belt,were earnestly of the opinion,that there was a lot to be learnt from knowledgeable teachers. Letters of love and appreciation from a few students,continued to enthuse me,during this decade.
The new millennium saw the sagging years of my career,but still I was not like the bull in Ralph Hodgson's poem "The Bull",which depicted an ageing bull brooding over its glorious past.The college became an autonomous institution by then,and it became my foremost responsibility as Head of the Dept,to set a strong foundation in framing the syllabus and preparing relevant teaching stuff and question banks,that could help my successor to carry on the the process forward, with creditable substance and quality.I used to reach the college on the college bus by 8.45 am every day,and would start the preliminary work connected with the requirements for academic autonomy,before the regular work began at 10 am.
To conclude,I never let down the pride and self -esteem of a teacher,especially at the stage of imparting learning to those in higher education.It is a known fact that school teachers are remembered more than college teachers,because it is the former brand that sows the seeds and shapes the roots of every learner,from the primary to the secondary and higher secondary levels of education. Twelve years of teaching and learning constitute the formative knowledge acquisitions of every student from the Higher Secondary schools.Perhaps that is why, only school teachers are selected for Best Teacher Awards.
My memoirs as a college teacher contain a profound nostalgic net weight,which solely rests with the following facts:-
1]Whenever I had the first hour in the morning or afternoon session,I was the first one to go and stand in front of the class room,and I could see the students rushing into the classroom after that.
2} I never used my teaching sessions for any purpose other than teaching.
3}My interest was more towards teaching poetry and drama though I took up teaching prose and fiction too.
4) A sizeable number of students used to make a special mention about my hold on vocabulary,with regard to multiple meanings of words and the grammatical dimension of those words.
5}I never differentiated students in the name of gender,religion and caste.
6}I do not remember to have availed of a permission,for being late on any day,during my entire career
7} If I had a teaching session during the last hour on any day I do not remember to have dispersed the class before the long bell.
8}I always believed that a bossy teacher fails; but a friendly and inspiring teacher steers the listening mood of the students,and scores considerable respect and affection from them.
9} I still believe that a teacher who attracts love and respect from students based on his principles and performance potential,need not bend before any external pressures, asking for a compromise of self-dignity and ideological affinity.
At the higher education stage,every teacher runs the risk of being treated like a stage or film actor.Some are heroes;some are comedians;some are character actors and a few are villains too.It is the right of every student to have their own opinion about every teacher,based on their interaction and connectivity with that teacher.In the midst of thousands of students, I am not sure and I cannot be sure of what most of my students thought of me,and for which particular role they considered me competent.But I can say without a mask,that my happiest moments were spent in my classrooms.
Above all,when the retirement year came to call it a day and quit,my very close colleague and soulmate,and I,decided to retire from service,on the last day of our birth month, instead of pushing our appeal to the college management,for an extension of our service till the end of the academic year that was in vogue those days.To gratefully conclude this post, the memoirs of my college years, I mean the teaching years,stand before me as a bounteous nostalgic experience,reflecting my never lost love for the students,my attachment towards most of my colleagues-cum friends, my inherent respect for the Principal and Secretary, who made us cherish fruitful academic goals, and above all, my absolute submission to the Almighty, for having let me function as an active limb of the noblest body,called Teaching.
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