We have all heard of teacher apathy. We think about it as the attitude of the teacher who is absent from class most of the time, coming to school only to collect the salary, or the teacher who comes to class, but is not bothered whether anybody is learning anything. I saw teacher apathy directly in front of me and it was a very disturbing experience.
During the Hindi/Marathi period, I spend my time correcting stuff or writing my lesson plans at a corner in front of the 10th standard which acts as the staff room. I almost always see that there is no teacher in the 10th standard and the students are making a lot of noise and not really up to anything good.
On this particular day I asked the student who walked out of the class which subject the period is supposed to be and she told me Science. I looked at the Science teacher who was sitting next to me. She started telling; "I never take the class in 10th std, they are all over smart and spoilt. Shouldn't they be asking me questions about the portion which I am teaching? They ask me anything and everything. I took one class and asked them what a compound is and what an element is. They didn't even know that. If they don't have the basics, what am I supposed to teach. I cannot teach everything from the beginning, can I? I am CONFIDENT that they all are going to fail. So, I don't teach them. If I teach them, when they fail, everyone will tell me, you have taught them and still they all failed. Now, I don't teach them at all, so no one can tell me that I have taught them and still they failed."
I sat there with my jaw dropped to the floor.
After a few minutes she said "Teaching is not an easy job at all, it is very critical". Then she turned to me and asked "Why even after being an engineer you are teaching in a school?"
Me: I like teaching.
Her: You don't want to do job?
Me: I have done another job all this while and now I want to teach.
Her: Oh! So you are just like me.
