Thank You Teachers

As I realized lately, May 2^nd was at my threshold. The D-day is very special to every Bhutanese. History noted the date. We recall this date. And the celebration ensues paying tributes and gratitude – tribute to His Majesty the late third Druk Gyalpo for opening the door of this tiny Himalayan nation to the outside world and gratitude to all the teachers in Bhutan for widening the intellectual horizon of Bhutanese youth.

Ever since we join schools, we are with our foster parents. Life started shaping in their presence. My ability to write and read this is purely given by my foster parents. ‘A’ for ‘Apple’ and ‘Z’ for Zebra, teacher taught us in elementary classes. From ‘Dechen and Dorji’ and ‘Momo Monkey’ to ‘what should do’ and ‘what we shouldn’t do,’ we learnt as a part of English subject. ‘Water cycle is continuous movement of water,’ is learnt as a part of EVS in class 2. ‘BODMAS stands for bracket, of, divide, multiply, add and subtract,’ class 4 Math teacher conveyed to us. ‘Galileo Galilei invented telescope’ Class 5 Social Studies teacher told us. ‘Process of making alcohol is an example of distillation,’ class 6 Science teacher taught us. འདས་ལ་འཕུལ་ཡོད་ཡང་འཇུག་ཡོད།། མ་འོངས་འཕུལ་ཡོད་ཡང་འཇུག་མེད།། ད་ལྟ་བ་ལ་གཉིས་ཀ་མེད།། Class 7 Dzongkha Lopon imparted to us. Class 8 History teacher communicated to us that ‘the Battle of Changlingmathang was fought in 1885.’ ‘Tethys Sea disappeared due to plate tectonic movement’ class 9 geography teacher uttered while teaching Bhutan Geography. Class 10 Physic teacher in conveyed to us that ‘latent heat is heat needed to change solid to liquid, liquid to gas and gas to solid’ in class 10. ‘V₁/T₁ = V₂/T₂ is formula for Charles Law’ learnt in the same class but in Chemistry subject. ‘Endocrine gland is a producer of chemical messenger in the body,’ biology teacher told us. ‘In economics, goods and services are abided by the law of demand and supply but Giffen goods defy the law’ taught Economics teacher.

Invincible! The knowledge we gained is profound. We learnt a lot. The knowledge of teacher flows like a water, never ending, though long and tiding, the final cause is efficient and effective. There will not be kings, politicians, doctors, engineers, architects, planners and policy makers had there being no teachers. They are the machines. They manufacture raw materials into fine products. Teacher is only profession where maximum dealing is made not to papers but with human beings.

The work of a teacher is not confined to a classroom teaching. They are the guide, advisor and friend. They spend hours of their precious time in preparing for the next lesson. Families are paid little concern. Hours of shouting in the class, hours of preparing, hours of guiding and hours of motivating us, teacher devotes their time to us, a much sacrifice is done for us.

Many people attribute education as a light in the darkness but what if there are no teachers to convey the content of education. Teachers should be given more credit for they are the middleman. Teachers make us wiser and broader in terms of thinking. They elevate our horizon of intellect.

Teachers hardly complains about the hardship they face. They merely assume to enjoy their profession. Teachers in the rural part of the country walks miles from the road point. They prepare lesson plans under the dim kerosene light, inhaling sooth and weakening their health. Though constraint by limited technologies, imparting knowledge is not hindered. Teachers bring all the best possible solutions to help the learners.

When we are wrong, they never ostracize us. Instead they correct us and encourage to change ourselves for a greater cause. When we are emotionally down, they provide us with walking stick. When there is a very tiny place to stand, they sacrifice for us. When we are alone, teachers walk by our side. When are in the darkness of misery, teachers come with the torch of solutions. When we are trapped in the chains of problems, teachers come to us with bunch of keys to unlock. When we are flying high, teachers never envies us. Instead they watch us fly with a beautiful smile.

Thank you teachers for your wisdom, hard work and sacrifices you made for us. You make our world – lucid and firm, calm and enduring, bright and pleasant. Thank you teachers.

If you are reading this, it is because of the teachers. Please thank teachers for their efforts.