On the occasion of Teacher's Day

Dr. BHASKAR CHAKRABORTY Professor & HoD Department of Chemistry Sikkim Government College (NBBGC) A

"A good teacher is like the rising sun that comes to fill the empty and dark minds with the light of the education”

On the auspicious day of “5^th September” also known as “Teacher’s Day” in our country to celebrate the birthday of a great teacher our country has ever produced and was also the second president of our country Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, I would like convey my best wishes, love and deep affections to all the students I have taught so far in my teaching career of 31 years at Sikkim Government College (known as NBBGC), Tadong, Gangtok and my present students as well!  Also on this very auspicious day, I would like to express my feelings “Why I have become a Teacher”?

To me the most nobel, honourable, respectful and dedicated service for mankind is the profession of teaching! This profession is the most “Powerful bond making process between a teacher a student”. To me there are two beautiful scenes exists in the society where unconditional pure love only exists; a baby in mother's arm and the other is a teacher teaching and disseminating knowledge to his or her students.

I didn't have an ambition to become a teacher up to the level of my educational journey to Master's programme! But when I entered into the vast area of research in my chosen field of activities and met Prof. Tapan Dasgupta and Prof. Uday Maitra my ambition of life has been completely changed.  I was fortunate to come across many brilliant professors and researcher's of my research field and was blessed to listen to them and latter on they helped me to attract towards being a dedicated teacher. During the course of my research career, I had the opportunity to see how a particular topic in any field of study can be made attractive to the students and how critical concepts can be simply converted into more easier one’s by comparing with the known facts or ideas already learned by the students with their basic fundamental concepts. So, I wanted to become a teacher and had a wish in my mind to make a difference in young people's lives and also to inspire passion and interest in my subject that I have learned.

After joining my institution Sikkim Government College, Tadong in 1994, slowly I started realizing that education is a gift and a privilege that everyone must have access to. As a teacher, I facilitate that process and make learning accessible through ideas that are fun and engaging. I also started feeling that teaching as a career option is that it gives you the opportunity to share your knowledge, skills, and love for a subject with your dear students. It gives a platform for the students to develop their curiosity and passion for learning.

During those days I started believing that as a teacher I may may have the best options to create positive and inspiring impact on student's lives. A teacher can achieve this by being kind, caring, empathic, passionate and also ae a good friend for my students. These are great qualities that I believe a teacher should possess. Teaching was really becoming enjoyable and rewarding to me and it was so satisfying for me to see my student’s progress both academically and non-academically as rounded people and future citizens. You might not realise it but you may become their “Role Model”. I also started believing those days that if I have to become a “Good Teacher” I must possesses qualities such as strong communication skills, empathy and a passion for lifelong learning so that I can always update myself with the current trends going around the world in my subject and I can blend the new information with the conventional theories written in the standard text books to the students.

Since, simultaneously I was engaged myself in “Active Research” therefore, I had to go through regularly with the current discoveries in my field of (Chemistry) and that helped me quite a lot to benefit my dear students. I could understand that if I have to keep improving the standards of my students initially I need to know  the unique strengths and weaknesses of each student which will help me in nurturing their talent fully. Students often have self doubt and a good teacher makes sure that students are reminded of their talents and skills and encouraged to pursue them..

During my 31 years of teaching career, I am lucky and always feel myself blessed to see, intereact and also enjoy the association of many eminent teachers across various famous institutions of our country (Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, Raja Bazar Science College, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, University of Hyderabad, Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, University of Bombay, Delhi University, JNU, JNCASR, Bangalore University, Pondicherry University, Saurashtra University, IISc Bangalore, University of Madras, North Bengal University and many more) and abroad (University College London, Imperial College London, University of Shefield, Cardiff University, University of Paris-Sud, Universiry of Greece).

This write-up will remain incomplete if I do not mention the names of few of my most respected and dearest teachers whom I admire most and learned many new concepts of teaching, learning and research methodologies.

Prof. Ian Coldham (University of Shefield & Imperial College, London); Prof. David Knight (Cardiff University); Prof. Duncan D. Browne (Cardiff University & University College London); Prof. Uday Maitra (IISc, Bangalore), Prof. S. Chandrasekhara (IISc, Bangalore); Prof. B.C Ranu (IACS, Calcutta): Prof. Ashish De (IACS, Calcutta); Prof. Abhijit Banerjee  & Juli Banerjee (Calcutta University); Prof. Samaresh Bhattacharya (Jadavpur University); Prof. Amalesh Samanta (Jadavpur University); Prof. H.S Joshi (Saurashtra University); Prof. Annunay Samanta (University of Hyderabad), Prof. Amiya Panda (Vidhyasagar University); Prof. Tapan Dasgupta (NBU); Prof. Bhishma Patel (IIT Guwahati); Prof. Arun Chattopadhya (IIT Guwahati) & Prof. Basudeb Basu, Prof. M.N Roy, Prof. Aloke Majumder, Prof. Ashish Nanda, Prof. Pranab Ghosh, Prof. Anirban Mishra (NBU).

In my institution, I was fortunate to have many new guidelines of administration and teaching including research activities from my fatherly figure and most respected teacher Dr. CB Sunwar and my supervisor respected Late Dr. Aloranjan Ghosh Sir.

In my opinion, to become a good teacher you need to set examples to your student's at the very beginning with showcasing your discipline, punctuality, sincerity, devotion and love! These actions  surely attract your students. The attitude of a teacher should be as such that when he or she is entering into the classroom students should not be afraid of him or her but they should feel comfortable with no fear in mind and they should expect that they will learn many new things in addition to their prescribed portions of the syllabus! A good teacher never going to start the portions of the syllabus directly but they first provide or share the importance and outcome of the topic for the benefit of them, for society, state and for our country as a whole! To make attractive and catching student's attention a good teacher should cite various examples of the topic and should make it lucrative! For a good teacher all of his class's should be always “interactive” where there should not be any barrier amongst the students and the teacher! This makes teaching learning process very attractive and fruitful.

A teacher in his career may be exceptionally brilliant but he or she will not be able become a successful teacher and also to create the “bond of love” among his or her students if they tries to maintain a gap with students and only fulfilling their regular duties in the classroom.

Teacher’s are the “unsung heroes” of our society and can play an invaluable role in our society, sacrificing their time, personal lives and well-being to ensure that our student’s receive the best education they deserve. A teacher’s task should not just simply  delivering the lesson inside the four corners of the classroom but rather serves as the second parent of the students and therefore loves and cares for his/her students like their real children.

A good teacher is one who prefers "Black board & Chalk " to explain the topics with his/her students rather than taking classes enabled with ICT mode which is rather may be used as presentation of a topic or specified research work in a conferences but not for clear explanation to the students.

A best teacher is one who don't have any egoistic attitudes towards his/her loving students and able communicate/ discriminate his or her best knowledge with the student's! A good teacher teacher is one who always keeping himself/herself updated with the latest trends of the curriculum and also should provide the additional inputs along with bookish knowledge! A good teacher is one who always shares his/ her own experiences during his/ her tenure of student life and how they tackled the hurdles and overcome them! This will definitely motivate his/her students.

A good teacher is one who knows the methodology/techniques how to engage his/her students after the class in many additional activities of livelihoods, providing inspiring stories of the working procedures of  of “Nobel Laureates”  and how to avoid social networking sites in today's scenario by engaging in various school/college/university activities which includes sports and games, music and NSS activities. A good teacher is one who is always friendly and encouraging his/her students before the examination by helping them not only with predicting answers to previous year's questions but also motivating them with the feeling that they are capable of doing best in the examinations.

A good teacher is one who not only teaches well a particular topic but also help  in growing interest in them so that in future they may also create a new concept in that topic and in this way different eminent scientists and novelists are born because once upon a time eminent persons were also in schools and received the guidance of good teachers. A good teacher is one who is a pathfinder for his students for the future goals and helping them identifying which curriculum will be most suitable for him or her in future career.

In my 31 years of teaching life, I have tried and still trying regularly to fulfil my students desire and to provide them the best ever education which I have received in my life and will continue till the last day of my bonding with my dearest students. I always see my students as my own son /daughter and try to act exactly what I used to do with my own son and daughter! During this long teaching career, I have come across with many brilliant students and during interactive sessions in the class I could also learn many things from them.

To me the "Bond between a Teacher and a Student" is the best relationship.

To me the “reward” from the students are when they call me and inform that they have qualified in national level examinations, awarded Ph.D degree, selected for foreign universities and also their good wishes on Teacher’s Day.

Dedicated to my most Respected and Dearest Professors Tapan Dasgupta & Aloranjan Ghosh whom I admire most and learnt "What is teaching and how teaching could be made attractive".