Teachers' Day

 In celebrating Teachers' Day we honour not just the memory of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, but every teacher who has ever lit a candle in the darkness of ignorance.

Across religious traditions, the divine and the teacher are one. Sri Krishna, seated on the chariot, instructing Arjuna on detachment and selfless action, was a teacher. Prophet Muhammad taught lawful living and the importance of brotherhood. The Buddha offered the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Jesus, gathering people on the mountainside or by the shore, challenging them to love and forgive, was a teacher. In most faiths, God is teacher, and the teacher is godlike.

There are few professions as noble as teaching. My greatest joy in a long academic career—serving as Head of Department, Academic Dean, and in other roles—has been simply to be known as a teacher. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, despite being the first Vice President and second President of India, despite holding many major positions, wanted above all to be remembered as a teacher. He famously said that the best minds in the country should become teachers. I would go further: the best minds and the best hearts in a country must become teachers.

George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and 1984, wrote a small essay titled "Why I Write." I read his answer as though it answers the question, "Why am I a teacher?" In his essay, Orwell identifies four main motives for writing: sheer egoism (the desire to be noticed and remembered), aesthetic enthusiasm (the pleasure of words and their arrangement), historical impulse (the desire to document true facts for posterity), and political purpose (the drive to shape society and influence ideas).

Most of us begin our teaching careers because of egoism—the desire to be thought clever, to be talked about while alive, and remembered after death. There is no shame in this; it is human.

But initial egoism slowly gives way to enthusiasm and genuine interest in a subject or discipline. We teach because of the passion we have for our subject matter—be it philosophy, languages, psychology, science, or media studies. We teach because we want logic, truth, and historical understanding to succeed.

Eventually, our teaching anchors around a political purpose: we want to see change happening around us and in the world at large. There is a desire to facilitate transformation. We want to make students see and believe in alternative perspectives. We want them to imagine and build an alternative world.

Savitribai Phule's life was an inspiring testament to courage, perseverance, and advocacy for education and social justice, making her a pioneer of women's rights in India. As the first female teacher in India, she established the first school for girls. She championed widow remarriage, fought against child marriage and female infanticide, and wrote poetry about social inequality. She tragically died in 1897 while caring for plague patients. But her larger aim was never just to teach girls to read and write—it was to stand against social evils and build an alternative world.

That is the teacher's highest calling: not merely to transmit knowledge, but to transform lives and remake the world.