Fr. C. Joseph
IN our land teachers were respected since the inspection of teaching and were called ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam ‘and even Mom. Teachers were continued a guiding torch in the society and will remain so in the future too. To-day, the 5th September, the teachers’ day in our Land. The day is celebrated in different way to express the gratitude towards teachers in our Schools. The observance of the day is a tribute to the dedication and devotion of the teachers all year long just to build up in education a child in our Land. The teachers are the backbone of the nation as they are acting as foundation for creating responsible citizens and good human beings.
The Origin of Teachers’ Day:
It was due the sacrifice and dedication of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first Vice-President and the second President of India, who was an ardent supporter of mass education and one of the greatest scholars and teachers of all times. Students, friends and teachers asked him for his permission to celebrate his birthday; he was agreed to do so on the condition that the day would be observed as Teachers’ day instead of his birthday, to honor the efforts of teachers across the country, the teachers who had made our life much more knowledgeable and serving as our beacons of light. Henceforth, our Land has been celebrating Teachers’ Day on 5th September, since 1962.
The Occasion of Celebration:
The day is observed by us in the schools, in different centers of importance by the performance of lectures, dramas, dance performances, sports, songs and various other programs to entertain their teachers. The specialty of the day is that students of senior classes dress up like teachers and make a show of enjoyment. It was a day of performance to provide for a healthy interaction between teachers and students as well and exchange gifts. Apart from honoring all the teachers, we remember the birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher, a teacher par excellence, a great educationist, who contributed the best towards our education system, who believed that “teachers should be the best minds in the country”.
World Teacher’s Day:
The importance of teachers has been recognized by UNESCO because of their contribution in building a child to be a good citizen of the nation and thereby to uplift the community in general. The 5th October is celebrated with great verve and enthusiasm across the world in more than hundred countries as World Teacher’s Day every year since the last 40 years.
However, in different country teacher’s day is celebrated at different dates at the desire of the nation. In Australia, last Friday of October is celebrated as teacher’s day. Thus teacher’s day celebration occurs - 2nd May at Bhutan, 15th October at Brazil, 5th October at Canada, and 10th September at China and so on. In the United States teachers day is celebrated throughout a week which takes place in the first full week of May. Even in war torn country Afghanistan teacher’s day was observed by the initiative of the west against the normal culture of the Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan are Muslims and Islam is their religion, the religion does not permit mix gathering of boys and girls, men and women as is happened in the celebration of teacher’s day.
