Teacher's Day Special! - By an employee of Amazon

 Is it really worth being a teacher? 

I mean...There were times in school, college when I used to think, these people have no other work! You know...the amount of homework, tests etc. which were given to us. I despised them! Then, I used to mock them whenever they missed out on an error in my test or homework. 

That used to be my opportunity to ruin their credibility! Going around the class, spreading nasty jokes and never losing a chance to gain attention! Whether it's intentionally cracking silly jokes between lectures or unfortunately forgetting to do homework, I did it to annoy the teacher! Not my fault, most of them were scary, strict and what not! I respected very few teachers for the kind of effort they put in class after class. But, somehow, always felt they were annoying and jobless too!

It all turned around when I got into Amazon's training team! I love training. I honestly do, however the kind of sacrifices we as trainers make, are sometimes not really advisable. That's when I realized that my teachers also would have made similar sacrifices, if not more! Let me give you a glimpse. 

The first sacrifice starts with their income! A sacrifice of free time, a sacrifice of family time! Did you know most teachers are an integral part of a family? They are home makers. They sacrifice their family time just to complete corrections and assessments on time for which they'll anyways be criticised! For me, it's just my notebook/test paper that I'm concerned about. For them, there are 25-30 such students in my class alone! Yet I complained when they step into the class, why can't you do your work on time!? We want to know our scores now!!!! I ensured to keep a disappointed face and not allow the class to happen. 

You know exactly how that scene is. However, In the corporate world, we don't have that pressure, but I sure can relate to it now. The sacrifices don't stop here. Teachers sacrifice staying in a physical shape. Most of them are under/over weight, stressed, bald, wrinkled, dark eyed, dull, under dressed! 

Ever wondered why? No, cos we were too busy mocking them. All this aside, there were a few teachers who came and inspired us within a few minutes! They very quickly became our favorites! They used to entertain us, yet teach us! They concentrated more on our moral values and our methods of studying than our A+ scores! They made us achieve wonders. Taught us more than just subjects. Hmmm...why the difference? Why couldn't the others do it? Inexperience? Unwillingness? Or is it because WE never gave them a chance for them to show us their complete potential? 

Think about it, when did we behave like the best students? Only during that one awesome class or throughout the day? Let me tell you a secret, when a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower! By being a good student and creating an atmosphere to learn, you'll bring the best out of any teacher! That's exactly what these awesome teachers did! They didn't change you! They changed the environment around you which in turn made learning so much fun and brought the best out of you! Now, back to the question, is it really worth being a teacher? 

YES!! Oh the joy, when people come to you and say, "if it wasn't for you, I would've hated English" or dedicate an award saying "I'd like to thank my trainer for all the efforts he's put to make me graduate!" - inexplicable. Sometimes, just seeing a student grow successfully, fills our hearts with immense happiness. In fact, the more I train, the more convinced I become that teachers are a powerful force in students’ lives with the ability to inspire greatness in our children! So, here's to wishing all the real superstars in everybody's life! For without you, we'd all be incomplete in one way or the other! Happy teacher's day! Stay blessed

(This is a post made by Bezawada Sri Prakruth an employee of Amazon.co.uk in Facebook, since he is my son and i was impressed with post decided to share it with my readers)

copy right of the pictures used in this blog rests with the respective owners

Government – Schools – Students – The Aadhar connection

When i got the circular from my daughter's school seeking her Aadhar number, the immediate thought that came to my mind was , why couldn't they adopt a similar method which was adopted by the Election commission, PAHAL the LPG subsidy site.

Apparently there is a huge gap between the above two programs and the schools info. First two are more or less Central govt projects and there is some primary data available, where as the schools coming under state subject education, we have to go through a long process of making this info connected.

However, if it was done the way the central issues were linked with Aadhar, there could have been lot more transparency for the parents. Not that they are providing some confidential information. What i have in mind is simply the following.

Government will first list out all the recognised schools in a designated website, listing out the permissions granted up to which class they can operate, category (Aided, Unaided, partly aided etc), which board (State board/CBSE/ICSE etc) they are authorised to offer, medium of education permitted and location where the school is situated in, The organisation which runs the school (usually trusts if the school is private) etc. After this the school would be provided access to the website to upload their student data.

Schools, on obtaining the access to the govt website, will start uploading the data of their pupils, class, section wise. Since the data will be based on school records it will be more or less accurate. Once this exercise is done, the schools will ask the parents to link the child's Aadhar number in this website. Parents can authenticate the input through a OTP (One Time Password) that will be sent from this site while updating the child's Aadhar number.

Parents will visit the site and select the school, class, section and identify their ward name and input the Aadhar number after getting a OTP. After doing this, it would be easier for the parents to verify the permissions the school has got and whether they got the permissions where their child is studying in specific. There are instances in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, where schools have been operating branches with one single license, a status which can put the child's education in danger if the authorities decide to disallow students of the branches which are not permitted.

This Govt. website can also capture the info and Aadhar number of the teaching staff. It is possible many a Govt. Teacher is teaching in a private school drawing double wages and depriving the Govt. school students of a proper teaching. Particularly it is more likely to happen in rural areas. Even parents can verify this info, if photographs and education qualifications are also listed.

This whole exercise will help bring in transparency in the education system, where parents can verify the schools permissions, staff qualifications. Govt will have total input on the schools admission process, RTE admissions (they could ask the schools to categorise the admissions) even fee structure prescribed to that particular school could be displayed, helping the parents to know whether they are being over charged by the school.

When a student is leaving the school, both transfer certificate (TC) and Marks list can carry the child’s Aadhar number, so that next institute can record the same while admitting the children be it at school level or higher studies. Even for a Banker while disbursing education loans this school record would be handy to know, whether the loan seeker has the required qualifications to pursue the next level of studies.

What i am writing about may not be too far from implementation and could be easily done under Digital India as visualised by the PM.