Working at BHS Narabal as an educator gives me immense pleasure and joy. The people I work with teach me the unforgotten lessons of life. In the 18 years of my service across the district I experienced multiple lessons to learn. Working in high school is a challenging job as one comes across many students having substantial learning gaps. This has always been the head ache for the educators. Being an academic monitor I think the learning gaps at higher levels ( 9th and 10th) is one of the most complicated issues in the school education department.
My friend educator invited all colleagues in the ICT lab to discuss the same. He started his speech and I quote, "look my dear friends. Most of the students having learning gaps are from poor backgrounds. We have to do something for them. If we cannot then there is no human touch and sincerity in us. All our prayers shall remain unheard" .He quoted Ameer Menai, a poet
Khanjar Chalai Kisi Pa Tadaptai Hai Ham Ameer
Sarai Jahan Ka Dard Hamaari Jigar Mai hai
He continued with the handy data having in his hand. We have 36 students with learning gaps in our school. He even named them one by one. He also had gone through diagnostic assessments for each student.
My friend continued with the sentence that hit me hard, "we have two options for these 36 students, either to leave them or to own them. If we leave them then we fail to inspire, guide or impart knowledge with integrity".
My friend motivated everyone to own them. He came up with some tips on overcoming this problem.
Identify areas where these students are struggling.
Examine performance data for at least 15 days to begin with.
With this pin point areas of weakness. Provide extra support, resources and practice in these weak areas.
Offer assignments to meet diverse learning needs.
Offer focused courses. This may even include reading, writing and basic numeracy.
Create a comfortable classroom culture and develop a strong connection with them.
Conduct frequent check-ins to monitor student progress.
Engage parents and community resources to extend learning support.
Use low stakes assessments to monitor progress.
Keep on selecting the students having overcome learning gaps. Keep a handy record.
When my educator friend spoke about this couple of months before, all educators supported and praised him.This doesn't happen everywhere. The educators who come up with ideas are often made fun of. This is the tragedy of our department. The ideas are often dubbed as jokes. There are teachers who are very enthusiastic in finding new ways to help the students but most of them are silenced by the teachers who work solely for a salary. Spending 6 hours in school doesn't make a person educator. An educator has a greater role. An educator is meant for academic guidance, mentorship, role modeling and motivation. Influencing emotional, social and intellectual development. A teacher as a knowledge giver is as important as life.
In our country we adhere to the belief
"Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo
Maheshwaraha, Guru Saakshat Para
Brahma tasmai Shri Guruve Namaha".
A teacher is a knowledge giver, a maintainer, a destroyer of darkness in the life of the students.
In my academic visits to different schools in zone narbal(Budgam). I have seen some teachers doing excellent job in realizing the dream of inclusive education and holistic development. Recently I visited a school where I found a young teacher had assembled 15 students in the corner of school lawn during morning assembly. I found him writing the names of these students. He had a measuring tape in his hand. He was measuring the size of the shirts and the pants of the students who had torn out uniform. He recorded the same on a page. We as academic monitoring team entered the office along with the staff of that school. The young teachers who made the measurements entered the office few minutes late. He sat and after a few minutes stood up."Please give me 500 rupees each as I have to buy uniforms for the students belonging to the poor families" .He said fearlessly. Everyone contributed gladly and he collected the sum of almost ten thousand rupees.
I wanted to talk to this young teacher. We went to the school lawn and appreciate him. He taught me a lesson by quoting Leontolstoi, "One day an old friend of Tolstoi who unlike Tolstoi lived in comfort and luxury told Tolstoi, "why do you care about others? To which Tolstoi replied" If you feel pain, you are alive, but if you feel the pain of others you are human".

Email:---------------------------muntashirkifayat@gmail.com