Teachers' Day Salutation Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

A Teacher I was,
a teacher to many students
from all over the world
as in many international schools I taught
and I expected no rewards in return
but only a smile from my students
as it made my heart fill a sense of relief
as only then I knew they felt enriched
with the lessons I taught them
while we inter-acted in our classrooms.

And as I kept teaching them
thro those enthusiastic years of my life,
I saw and learnt from them more than
what I could teach them
as so full of curiosity and zest were they
that they never let go the questions
that were not answered or solved
as on the teachers they depended for their reasons
as on teachers they depended for their future
goals and professions.

And though some students were weak in studies
while some were strong in reasoning and grasping,
none lacked interest in learning more and more
as teachers were their source and power of education;
so, as teachers we clustered together each year
and we mapped our schedules, prepared our lesson plans
but mine was always different and easy from the others
as most of the teachers had to put in more hard work
but I was designated to be a Physical education teacher
as the previous PE teacher had quit her job never to return
as in the hot sunshine of Saudi Arabia
she felt her skin was burning like fire;
so, from a Class Teacher, I had to switch to teaching
games like basketball, floor-hockey and athletics
and the students of the American School
in Rahima, Saudi Arabia always considered me
as their favorite teacher only for the fact that
I let them play basketball every time during PE classes.

Later, in Finland I was assigned to teach kids
and in the UAE I was assigned the post of a Supervisor
in a Kindergarten Section;
and as I kept teaching, I developed consistent aptitude
to teach little children that I went on to teach
in an English Arabic school in the UAE
as I could speak Arabic fluently;
there the little students learnt from me
to read, recite and even write all so instantly;
it was the technique I knew that helped me
to gain the friendship of these little students
as all I best knew to do was to sing
English nursery songs to them and develop their interest
as they would sing back aloud the nursery rhymes with me;
they would consider me as a friendly teacher
and therefore listen and follow my instructions instantly
and this made it easy to have a good
and blessed teacher- student co-ordination
as wherever I went, I never flinched from singing
even at the school assembly as it helped me promote
discipline and good student's association with me.

And as I taught in Saudi Arabia and UAE
I came across many students from many countries;
in the fields of teaching I came across
so many students from so many nationalities
that I discovered wherever they came from,
the learning instinct and the quest for knowledge
prevailed in the same quantum in all students
whether they came from north or south,
east or west of the planet called the earth.

Looking at their dedication, I was so inspired
that I always found myself so involved with my work
that my time and duty flew like a wind,
imparting education to every child in every class
as every student who was entrusted in my care
and class was my venture
and all my endeavors paid its price
as all took interest in their learning process
and so valuable was the response of every student
that under speculation of my conscience:
a teacher and a student co-ordination is best explained
when both the teacher and the student
travel by that common train called education
and reach the same destinations of success
yet the traveler called student walks out
of the platform called school, one day
with his heavy and valuable luggage of knowledge
while the train driver called the teacher waits back
at the engine to take more students in her wagon
and carry them along the same route
imparting education to new travelers called students
and these journeys of education are endless
as the process of learning is also ceaseless,
without which the teachers would never know
their worthiness and how valuable they are
to the students' future, dreams and careers
that I salute every teacher who has taken up
this virtuous commitment and noble profession
of selecting to be the luminaries of education, so gracefully.