Teaching :A Thankless Job

I started my teaching career in my midtwenties. Getting fee concession for my children, earning my own money and the opportunity to go out and make friends were the reasons behind my decision. I thought that this was the easiest way to earn money.?Saturdays and Sundays off, winter vacation, summer break, spring break and getting off at 2pm, it was a dream job.

Little did I know what I was getting into. I was the class teacher of class III. Boys. I found out that?teaching is not only teaching. Its monitoring these little buggers. Its keeping them busy and interested. Its listening to long stories about fights in the break. Its walking in the class bumping into desks. Its getting used to the smell of sweat in a hot classroom after break time.?Its putting band aid on invisible injuries and cuts. Its listening to the same question 24 times. Its screaming to make them stop screaming. Its controlling your bladder until a friendly colleague passes by. Its keeping the soft boards updated 24/7. Its checking illegible work. Its marking 24 note books in your free lesson (30 minutes). In these 30 minutes, you must pee, drink tea, wash your hands ( chewing gum, sweat, booger) and exchange office gossip and run back to the next lesson.??Its taking piles of note books home every day. Its writing, rejecting and rewriting lesson plans every week. Its getting dressed up for PTAs and keep smiling while the parents blame you for everything the child says and does at home.

But would I change anything about it? NO. I thrived that life. The moment I entered my class, I was one of them. I knew who will do what to whom and when. And they knew what I was up to by my facial expressions. I knew who was lying, who was the culprit, who had done the homework, who made the strange sound, who hit whom. All this with my back towards them. I loved their surprised expressions when I always could differentiate between innocent and culprit. I loved them. I was responsible for their bad behaviour and I took credit for their good performance.

Now that I am not into teaching and have moved towards teacher training, I still cherish those days.

In the last decade, I have observed a strange phenomenon. Talking against your children’s schools and teachers have become the ‘in’ thing. Whatever happens around us, flood, smog, strikes or pandemics, people want schools to stop taking fees.?How insane is this? They don’t ask LESCO to lessen electricity bills. They don’t ask Sana Safinaz or Doctors’ Hospital or WAPDA or PIA for free services. But they want schools to reduce fee every time.

Where is this coming from? When did these elite schools promise to give free education? When did they say that they do it for charity? Never. These are commercial businesses. And it was never hidden from anyone. Making groups on whatsApp and FB against schools and faculty is the most illiterate thing a parent can do.

A teacher’s heart and soul goes into her work. I am sure teachers in this group will agree with me. You people cannot believe how teachers are managing online teaching, how they are training themselves and becoming proficient in this new way of teaching, only to be criticized by parents.

And please next time don’t pay your electricity bill when you are on vacation or make a FB group against PIA as they have increased their fares 53% from last year. Lets see if it works.?

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Try