Recently I came across a news item about educational institutions in Bhubaneswar remaining closed due to the ongoing terrible summer heat wave. The state capital, a city hitherto known for its salubrious weather has recently turned into a heat chamber with no immediate respite on sight.
It reminded me of an incident from the year 2000. My father was nearing his retirement from his teaching job in SCS college, Puri. I was visiting India at that time. One fine morning on a working day when I went to pick him up from the college, I suddenly encountered a bunch of agitated students at the college entrance. They were on a protest and trying to bar the teachers from getting inside the college building. My father happened to be present inside the building surrounded by the students.
After visiting Lord Jagannath temple I headed straight to the college to pick him up on my way home. A guy snarled at me at the gate baring his betel (PAAN) stained teeth and blocked my path proclaiming on top of his voice - "SABU MASTRA AJI MAADA KHAIBE (All the teachers will be beaten today. MASTRA in Odia is a slang for teacher, often used in a derogatory sense). He mistook me as a young teaching staff. I replied back - "MU MASTRA NUHE, MASTRA NKA PUA (I am not a teacher, rather a teacher's son)", so I may be spared the thrashing.
He could not catch the humor. All of a sudden a bunch of girl students arrived at the scene diverting his and his fellow agitators' attention. In the ensuing melee I looked around making sure that nobody was noticing me and then stealthily slipped inside. But a la Mahabharat's hapless Abhimanyu I managed to get inside the college building but had no clue how to get out. Soon police came to the rescue and the crowd dispersed. We dad-son duo finally headed our way back home.
My father came all the way from Bhubaneswar to Puri to take a B.Sc. Physics Honours class which was cancelled for umpteenth time due to the student's agitation. Lamenting he expressed his view - "At least some semblance of teaching was there in the general colleges during your student days. These days whatever is left out of the 144 sanctioned holidays in a year, many are wasted in college elections, politically motivated agitations and other disturbances, leading to suspension of classes. Hardly anytime is left to teach and finish the syllabus on time".
It is what it is. Couple of decades down the road I am not sure if things are better or worse these days. But educational institutes getting closed due to summer heat adds more to the glut of holidays and loss of invaluable academics hours. As the hot weather shows no signs of waning, we might see more such holidays taking a toll on the student's education. Hope the weather gets better and students better get back to class.
No comments:
Post a Comment