A teacher who spent 31 years in La Martiniere for Boys and was responsible for some of the spectacular productions staged by the school’s students said a teacher’s biggest duty is to inculcate the values of tolerance and harmony in the children and teach them to distinguish between the good and the bad.

Susmita Chakrabarthy shared her experiences and thoughts with The Telegraph a day after she resigned from her job at the school.

Teacher’s role

We live in a divisive world and it is important to inculcate in our children the values of harmony and tolerance and help them be global citizens.

The authorities will try to demonise some people, according to expediency, like I was branded ‘anti-management’ in my school. Teachers should train children to rise above such pettiness.

Children don’t like sermons, we cannot keep preaching. We have to teach them the right values through our work and through what we teach: “fair is fair and foul is foul”.

My job as a teacher is to mould the character of a child so he becomes an able citizen, capable and competent to live in society. One who can differentiate between the good, the bad and the ugly.

Divisions pronounced

A lack of tolerance is pronounced now. You can feel the tension between individuals of different groups.

We have to teach our children that it is not right. We are all the same. After the parents, it is the teachers who have to teach them.

Teaching is not a corporate job. One has to reach out to the students, empathise with them, inculcate in them an emotional quotient and empower them.

It is difficult because since the Covid pandemic, students have been bombarded by the virtual world. The impact of social media and influencers can be overpowering and the teacher has to step in to counter the negative influences.

Reaching out

A teacher’s job does not end in the classroom. It goes much beyond the four walls.

The Covid pandemic had a devastating impact on children. They became isolated and it was a challenge to make them happy and resilient. There were so many in my class who had lost someone and there were boys whose parents had lost their jobs. It was traumatic for them and I tried my best to keep them away from the gloom and melancholy.

Payback

How things transpired (between the school and her) was not graceful. We live in a world of etiquette and goodness but this has not been a good thing. It pains me.

I feel loved, too. They (her students) have like a cocoon protected me from the pain meted out to me. That to me is a success as a teacher and a human being. My
boys from around the world, from the US, Australia, the Gulf, as well as the current students, have reached out to me. I feel grateful. I feel blessed.

Dead Poet’s Society

Back in 1991, after completing master’s in English, I went to England to my brother for a holiday.

I saw Dead Poet’s Society and, after that, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I have always loved theatre and I believe in joie de vivre (joy of living). After all, literature gives you the imagination to see the world in a grain of sand. I came to Calcutta, did my BEd from Loreto College and joined La Martiniere for Boys in 1993.

Classroom democracy

When you are teaching or preparing a student, there are two kinds of questions — factual and higher-order questions. But a class has children with different IQs.

As a teacher, I have to divide my questions and strike a balance so each can answer and participate. It has to be democratic. I can’t leave any child out. I used to show my children a lot of films, like Educating Rita, Rebel Without a Cause, The Wild One, and introduced my children to classics. They will not choose on their own because they will not know and the teacher has to expose them to it.

What about us

A Class X boy asked her “What about us?” when he learnt about her resignation on Wednesday. The Class X and XII students will write their board exams in mid-February.

“You have other teachers,” I told him. “And I am always available to all of you.”