ARE TEACHERS SERVANTS?
Khaliqur Rahman
Prof Bala Subramaniam was a fantastic teacher. He taught me Phonetics when I was doing MLitt at CIEFL Hyderabad. While we were doing a course in Instrumental Phonetics, he was simply superb in training us in Palatography. While I was in Edinburgh for my Masters, I heard Bala’s name much too often in the Phonetics Lab. Palatography or Balatography, they’ll ask, tongue in cheek, because they said Bala would work, non-stop in the Lab day and night, taking out thousands of palatograms and that gave them the idea of the humorous coinage.
Bala was in Jeddah, too, to earn sufficient money to get his daughters married.
Do you know how well the teachers are looked after in the Gulf? Bala would tell us he got a well furnished house with two cars, one for the family and one for work. They took care to maintain everything in the house, utensils, cutlery, drapery, upholstery and of course, furniture and other furnishings. He told us, they gave him extra allowance if he had guests.
Bala was simply flabbergasted. He went to the employers and said he’d prefer to live ascetically because he was used to and he would like to return most part of the facilities, including the cars. He assured them that this would not affect the quality of work. He also asked them if it would be possible for them to convert these facilities into money because that would help him immensely in getting his daughters married.
They understood his difficulty, respected his spirit and wholeheartedly agreed.
Bala returned with enough money that he earned and saved for the cause.
Bala narrated another incident. He went to work by bus. But one day he forgot to carry the monthly bus ticket. The conductor asked him to get down at the next stop and informed the Police. While poor Bala was trying to plead and the constable was not at all getting convinced, the two of them heard assalaam-o-alaik al-mudarris (peace be onto you, O teacher) from a car that whizzed by.
The constable not only apologised but took Bala in his car for Bala to collect his monthly ticket from home.
The teacher cannot tell a lie! So the society and the Police believed!!
Bala also related that while in Jeddah he learnt that there were three teachers from India recruited in a school on a three year contract that was renewable every year. They noticed that they were taking it easy and not teaching. They watched them for fifteen days. They were not teaching. They gave them the benefit of the doubt (maybe they were taking time to settle down in a new place) and waited for fifteen days more. As there was no change, they called them and asked them to go back. Astounded thus, they complained that they were there on a three year contract. The Principal asked them to have a close look into the envelope. The three envelopes had in them termination orders with cheques for an amount equal to salary and allowances for three years!
The Principal said they would NOT allow them to play with the future of the students!
There are teachers like Bala. They must be handled with care because they are an endangered species. Moreover, they are costly and delicate, easily breakdownable. They are the builders of future generation. They make human beings out of kids at school and boys and girls in colleges and universities. They are nobody’s servants. They should be well looked after and rewarded and not paid salaries. So say the Scriptures.
And, there are teachers like those three. They need to be dismissed like servants.
