Shaping Minds, Touching Hearts

On Teachers’ Day, we spoke to our member Ms J. Dutta who reflected on her 34-year teaching career at a state-sponsored girls’ school, recalling the challenges, joys, and lifelong bonds she formed with her students.

I started teaching at a state-sponsored girls’ school in 1975 and taught for 34 years before I retired. Over the years, I taught all classes—from primary to class ten. We would report to school in the morning, and before the children arrived, our principal would assign teachers to classes for the day. We would then teach whichever classes we were allotted.
In the beginning, I taught children from well-to-do families. But in the early 1980s, when the state government stopped the teaching of English in primary classes in state-sponsored schools, the student composition changed. We began receiving children mostly from underprivileged homes and from families of party workers at the grassroots level.
In class, I never picked favourites. On the contrary, I paid more attention to the backbenchers and those who were weak in studies. Many of my students were first-generation learners and had no one at home who could help them. I realised that in a 40-minute class—where my attention had to be divided among 30 students—it was not possible to adequately teach the weaker ones. So, I would keep them back during recess and tutor them instead of letting them go out to play. Back then, many of them thought I was strict—even tyrannical—and were afraid of me. But as they grew older, they understood that I was committed to their learning and had their best interests in mind. Over time, a great rapport developed between us. They used to call me Didi and often dropped in during free periods to chat. It has been many years since I stopped teaching. My students are all grown up now. Most of them have become parents and a few have even married off their children, but they still keep in touch with me over WhatsApp.
It never helps when teachers pick favourites. I believe we do our profession a disservice when we do so. In fact, teachers receive far more love and respect when they treat everyone equally. I never picked favourites, but to many of my students, I was their favourite teacher.

(as narrated to Support Elders by our member)