A Letter to Students

Dear Students,

At the very beginning we would like to thank you for being students. A famous saying goes, ‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.’ You exist, therefore, we exist. We would like to borrow Alexandra K. Trenfor’s quote partially, “... Teachers show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” Yes, that’s our foremost duty – to open your eyes and mind to knowledge, to truth and to growth!

Today, the entire globe is in the grip of the Pandemic which has changed much, drastically. Earlier, we influenced you and your lives for six or eight hours a day. Today, we’re with you almost every hour of every day. We cannot thank God enough for blessing us with this wonderful opportunity of enlightening young minds, of encouraging you to be courteous, respectful, motivated and optimistic at all times. Teaching isn’t a profession but rather a vocation, this reality has become so stark in the present situation. It demands patience and complete devotion from an individual. You, dear children, have been the reason and inspiration to carry on in spite of all the odds. Your love, respect and understanding for us has motivated us to carry on even when we have faced the worst of situations in these strained circumstances, be it - the loss of a loved one, the death of a colleague or student, financial crisis, health problems, fears, anxieties or other insecurities.

Not all teachers decided to spend their lives with you because they had nothing better to do in life. Some, even if only a handful, wished to make a difference to young minds! And, the challenge now is to identify those who weren’t keen to teach initially because at the end of each day, every teacher’s life revolves around his/her students. Just as a mother is born the moment her child is born, the same goes for a teacher. Slowly but certainly, you’ve taken up permanent residence in your teacher’s heart. You can never be ‘just students’, you’re our kids!

On this auspicious occasion, we pray to God and entrust you all to His divine care. We pray that your dreams may see the light of day. May God bless you all with good health and wisdom to know the right from the wrong. When the path is dark and you are afraid may He bless you with His hope, courage and strength. May He be your solace when you feel disappointed. We ask the God of love to fill your hearts with His love, joy and peace.

Today, many of you will think of offering gifts as a symbol of your love and respect to your teachers but as Dronacharya asked Eklavya centuries ago, we ask you for ‘Guru Dakshina’. We ask you to become better human beings – compassionate and kind; we ask you to work harder and live better; we ask you to make your parents proud of you and make us proud of you; we ask you to understand the worth of a human being be it a vegetable vendor, a carpenter, a taxi driver, a doctor, an engineer... or a teacher. We ask you to learn the importance of slow and steady progress because growth is quiet, destruction is loud. We ask you to avoid shortcuts because there’s no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs – one at a time. We ask you to lead a life of integrity as it helps in the long run. We ask you to compete with no one, except your own self. And, when you shine as bright as the stars in the sky, we ask you to return and tell us of your success. A teacher always loves a good story, and your success story will be our favourite one.

As life comes full circle, I would like to end where I began. In the words of Lao Tzu, “When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready, the teacher will disappear.”

Someday, you will not need us anymore and when we disappear from your lives, we ask you to remember us as human beings prone to failures and shortcomings who decided to stay strong even in the face of the Pandemic because their students looked up to them.