Online Schooling-A Tribute To Teachers

It is just another day of online classes on Zoom, Geography being the first period. Our teacher is facing major connectivity issues. The students are of course on cloud nine, because nothing makes them happier than not having to study. Beaming faces can be seen on the screen. 

Our teacher finally connects to another network and begins teaching. Hardly ten minutes into the lecture, and she gets disconnected from the meeting. The school observer who supervises the online classes is absent today. Kiara, my classmate, lands up becoming the host. All the boys unmute themselves and scream in a chorus "Enable the chat". She is in a complete dilemma now. Being the teacher's pet, she does not want to land herself in trouble. The constant pinging announces the arrival of messages on our WhatsApp group, and as I check my phone, I see that they force her so much,  that she finally gives in . The chat is enabled, and everyone starts cracking jokes about our teacher. The teacher's network is extremely weak, and she fails to rejoin. All of the students spend the rest of the class talking about the boredom in classes, the absurd accent of Mrs. Subramaniam, the gait of Mr. Perriera  ..... the chats are never-ending. I am extremely delighted when the "class" finally ends. 

Next up is Biology -the period when my friends come up with a plethora of excuses, which surprisingly, our teacher believes. "Can I keep my video off? I'm having network issues today"-a standard excuse given by most of my classmates. Some of them use this excuse almost every day. Today, we are learning about the process of transpiration, and in the middle of the class, the teacher decides to quiz a few students to check if they are paying attention. First up is Ranveer, the most notorious of the lot. "What is the importance of transpiration to plants?" He stares at the screen blankly . For a second, I am convinced that he has got disconnected, but on looking closely, I can see that he is pretending that his network is unstable. I am left speechless at his guts. I cannot imagine that someone can act in such a manner, simply because he does not know the answer to a question. 

The teacher must have noticed Siya giggling away at a meme she just saw. She asks her a question, which she cannot answer. It takes her a few seconds before she unmutes herself, and when she finally does and starts speaking, she cannot be heard. Of course, she has fiddled with the audio settings to her advantage. She leaves me flabbergasted. 

It is finally time for the last period, P.T.  I want school to get over soon. The antics of my classmates have vexed me. We have our test today, and we have been asked to adjust our cameras well so that our exercises could be viewed clearly. Now, Shiv tries to distract the instructor by constantly changing his virtual background and profile picture, which is apparently a source of great amusement to the others. When the test begins, most students do not follow the instructions given to them . On top of that, our sir is facing issues with his screen going black, and he cannot see anyone. Ranveer advises him to simultaneously press Alt and F4. He does so and is immediately disconnected from the meeting. The other boys start cheering him, and proclaim him to be "the best prankster of the class". Even after Sir rejoins, they continue with their nonsensical behaviour. 

Kaushal has placed his laptop in a manner that prevents anyone from seeing where he is actually looking. Even on close observation, no one can quite figure out whether he is looking at the screen, or chatting with his friends. When he is asked to adjust the lighting in his room, he comes up with an excuse that his lamp isn't working (Does he not have tubelights in his house? I wonder). After loads of such excuses, the class finally comes to an end. 

The events of the day have left me pondering about how our teachers deal with us. I fall into deep thought,  and finally come to a conclusion. Teachers are extraordinary humans. They brave undisciplined actions, rude behavior, insulting remarks and defying statements ... all with a smile on their face. Their only wish is that they can mould their students from crayons to clay and from clay to master sculptures. They want their students to do well in all walks of life, so that someday somewhere when they reach the pinnacle of success,  they can hear them say... Mrs. Subramaniam was my dearest teacher, Mr. Perriera? Oh, he taught me to be the man I am. 

Hats off and a bow to all my teachers who always teach and guide us, inspire and make us intelligent enough to distinguish the right from wrong and the weak from strong. 

-Veenaaz