On my return to education
What? You are teaching! Again? Should I say, Congratulations or commiserations? Is something wrong with you? Aren’t you making more money now? You cannot take teaching out of a teacher, can you? These and similar reactions greeted me when I announced to my friends and family about my decision to give up my comfortable executive position and return to classroom teaching. It made me think of the decades that I have spent in the teaching profession, the things that have changed and things that haven’t. Changes have been many – some extremely revolutionary and others a bit subtle. We moved from a blackboard and chalk classroom to Whiteboard and marker, then to Smartboard and now to online Zoom lessons. Teachers started getting called tutors, facilitators and guides and are often on a first-name basis with learners (nee-students). Governments introduced and scrapped new curricula with every change in the shade of the ruling cliques. Private schools,...