​Empathy is Key to Being a Good Teacher

Teacher: Uttam Singh Rana
School: Government Primary School, Ulana, Tehri, Uttarakhand
By: Shipra Suneja

The government primary school, Ulana, is built on top of a hill. The classrooms overlook the formidable Garhwal mountain range on all four sides. Benches are laid outside the classrooms in the open space where children study when the sun is out. The constant movement in and out of the classrooms and the chatter of children makes the school extremely lively. Like any other day, on the day of our visit too, Mr Rana is with children on the benches outside and begins a session on solving mathematical problems. Children, with their faces sometimes looking upwards in deep thought and sometimes rigorously making notes in their notebooks, appear busy throughout. Mr Rana is the Head Teacher of the school. Besides him, there is one more teacher.

Head Teacher Rana has had a long and exciting journey as a teacher. From humble beginnings of trying to run a small school that had been dysfunctional for years, to his children getting admission into prestigious institutions, such as the Navodaya Vidyalaya and Sainik Schools, to receiving several awards for his innovative teaching and running his own YouTube channel for fun ways of learning Mathematics, Mr Rana describes his journey of hard work with humility.

He has been a teacher since 1993, joining a government school, as the lone teacher, in a very remote area. He reminisces that when he started, the school did not even have a concrete structure; classes would take place under a tree with only 45 children in the first year. He worked very hard to ensure that children came to school every day. He would use different methods of teaching so that children could understand and not get bored. He started teaching English in the younger classes as he thought that it would be useful for them in the later years. He would buy the children notebooks if they did not have any and make them write; he also involved the parents in the learning of their children.

When he was transferred to another school, the other teacher there was equally interested in working with children. They together took it upon themselves to improve the condition of the school. He shares how two of the students from that school completed their B Ed and have become teachers.

The School

In 1999, Mr Rana was transferred to this school. In 2003, he was promoted, and his responsibilities increased.  He mentions how before his joining, the school was largely non-operational. The kitchen space was used by the villagers to cook their own food and people would defecate in the rest of the area. Slowly, he began to engage with the community and convince parents to send children to school and get them interested in studying.

His initial objective was to bring children to school. To think of them getting into Navodaya School and associating any kind of success with them was a far-fetched dream. Even though he was working very hard and his students were picking up, he was not satisfied with the results. He mentioned that most children (about 70%) in the nearby villages grow up to join the Armed Forces but are never able to reach higher positions even there.

Over the years, he felt that children needed coaching to not just be able to get admission into the Army School, but also so that they have better chances of rising to higher positions in the Indian Army. He started teaching children content related to the syllabus of Navodaya Vidyalaya, Sainik School, Rajiv Navodaya Vidyalaya, Himjyoti School, besides the regular school syllabus. It worked so well that in the last 10 years, about 30 students have got admission into these schools. He is extremely proud to mention that in last year itself, three children got admission in Navodaya School, five children in Rajiv Navodaya and two in Sainik School. He mentions how unlike other schools which want their children to just get into English medium schools, he actually motivates and helps children study so that they can learn better and have an education that will help them have a bright future. He feels that this is even more important for the children from poor families who will avail of nutritional food, clothes and books at these schools.

Becoming a teacher

Head Teacher Rana shares that he always wanted to be a teacher even though his father wanted him to be a patwari (government accountant). At one point in his life, he too had contemplated joining the Army like many of his friends but somewhere deep down he knew that he would be happy being a teacher. He believed that as a teacher he would be able to make much more contribution to society and also take care of his family better.

He realized the importance of education very early in his life and ensured that all his siblings studied and graduated. He proudly mentions how he used to teach his siblings when they were young, and that they still hold him in utmost respect for he will always be a teacher to them.

Working with children

Head Teacher Rana states that engaging with children has been quite a journey for him. Initially, he used to be a strict disciplinarian whose main objective was to ensure that his students clear examinations. Over the years, there has been a marked change in how he interacts with them. With time, he felt that the best way to work with children would be to have fun with them, laugh with them, talk to them. He now actively engages with them in their activities, and even modifies the syllabus as per their needs. He goes beyond giving facts and figures; engaging in discussions and taking the children’s points of view. He also uses a lot of diagrams in his teaching, especially focusing on patterns in mathematics that make learning much more interesting for children. Use of different methods, doing more practice work also effectively reduced the fear of mathematics that the children had. This eventually made children more interested in coming to school and engaging with other subjects with greater enthusiasm. He mentions that children in his schools, unlike in many other government schools, are at the learning standards prescribed for the grades they are in.

According to Head Teacher Rana, the most important part of the learning process is that the children should be able to make linkages to what they learn in school with their daily lives. For this reason, whenever he takes up a new topic, he asks them questions on how they can relate the topic to their lives. He tells them his own stories, funny incidents and builds curiosity around the topic. He says that it builds a comfortable atmosphere to learn and also helps the children grasp things better.

He uses as much technology as he possible in his context. He searches for the Olympiad question papers online, makes copies and distributes these among the children. He shows them videos of the stories and poems from their textbooks and sometimes makes PowerPoint presentations. He often uses rhymes and songs to teach children lessons, such as the mathematical tables.

A coach more than a teacher

Regarding coaching his children for school admissions, he said that he drew inspiration from the ‘Kota coaching model’. Besides the school syllabus (NCERT textbooks), he gave the children worksheets related to various entrance exams. He used different methods of teaching so that the children were not bored or exhausted. With the belief that elementary maths is the foundation for several subjects studied later, he engaged his students in extensive maths practice. Regarding the teaching of English, he feels that just reading the subject matter does not help. The learning should be useful in children’s everyday life. So besides reading different material, he teaches them how to write applications, letters and so on.

He believes that unlike ‘teaching’ which can be mundane and boring, ‘coaching’ with a certain purpose in mind motivates children to work harder and success is much more definitive. He further explains that coaching is like monitoring overall activities of a child; taking personal responsibility; involving parents and not just pushing the child to just ‘pass’ tests. This is the reason why he calls himself a ‘coach’ rather than a teacher.

Being an empathetic teacher

He mentions that a teacher should be able to understand the needs of each child as all children differ in their grasping abilities and pace. Even though there is the pressure of finishing the syllabus, he ensures that he spends time with each child and uses different teaching techniques to cater to their needs. He also believes that the nutritional needs of the children should be met and only then will they be able to concentrate in their studies. Hence, for children who may not be getting a nutrition-rich diet at home, he ensures that he provides it to them in the school.

For Head Teacher Rana, being empathetic towards students means listening to them. He says that it is important to have a conversation with them instead of just instructing them. He talks to children about their personal lives, likes, dislikes, family and so on. It helps him form a bond of trust with his students and he also gets to know them better so he can teach them better. He prefers calling the children by their pet names or some funny names (which are not mocking or disrespectful) that he gives them. This helps children become comfortable with him. He believes that a teacher plays a very important role in helping children realize their potential and knowing children well is the stepping-stone towards this.

He has implemented small changes in the school processes to help the children, like using butter in food for children who do not eat eggs or buying school uniforms and giving directly to children instead of giving money to the parents since there were cases of the money being used by fathers to buy alcohol.

He also adds that besides teachers, the family should be able to provide a supportive environment for learning and proper nutrition to the child. A lack in either will affect the child’s growth and create adjustment difficulties for him/her. He recognizes certain undesirable practices in the community, like discriminating against girls when it comes to nutrition or sending only boys to private school (which they consider as better) and speaks with parents about these. Although over the years, these practices have declined, there is still a long way to go.

Head Teacher Rana keeps in touch with his students even after they have left the school. He dreams of seeing at least 8-10 of his children from these marginalized communities into esteemed medical and engineering institutions. He wants to build a support system where he can help such students get financial assistance from the government for coaching and other purposes.

Working with parents

He states how he has become more sensitive to the context and circumstances in which people manage to live and work. He mentions how earlier, he used to get angry with parents for sending their children untidily to school and would send the children back. But slowly he realized that it was important to build trust with the community and only then can one expect mutual support.

He would assure the parents that they can rely on him for their children’s education and in return, ask them to send the children neat and tidy to the school.  He encouraged parents to monitor their children’s work as much as they could, asking them to spend time with their children even if it meant sitting with them while they did their schoolwork. According to him, once the parents begin to pay attention to what their children are learning, they not only gain confidence in the child but also in the teacher. He would personally call them if the child was absent for several days. He mentions many more examples of the things that he does to ensure that children and parents sustain their interest in education.

Building ties with the family

According to Head Teacher Rana, even though learning social skills and building community ties takes place in the family, but it is also his responsibility as a teacher, to promote this. He often includes stories, plays and other cultural activities into the daily routine which allows children to engage with each other. He regularly calls parents to school to discuss with them the progress of their children so that they gain confidence in their children’s learning. He also helps them see the different talents that children have by inviting them to cultural activities. Parents and other members of the family also participate by volunteering during cultural celebrations. Often, they bring sweets and snacks for all children. They also contribute little amounts of money now and then that enables Mr Rana to buy supplementary textbooks and other study material. He mentions that he takes parents complaints and suggestions very seriously. Taking feedback of parents further enables them to become part of the school system.

Children come from diverse backgrounds and the resources their families have for their education differ. Mr Rana supports these families with the main aim that the children continue to come to school. He helps parents with the opening of bank accounts and pan card applications. Several times these efforts work, but sometimes they don’t. Like, one time, he took great care to ensure that everything was in place for a child to come to school, like helping the parents get a pan card, a bank account, and other support they needed, but the family which was going through a financial crisis were not able to send their child to school.  He continues to be in touch with them and help them in whatever way he can.

Strengths

He states that his biggest strengths are his open-mindedness and jovial nature which allows him to mingle with children. It helps him to transact the lessons as well as, teach them values in a fun way through stories and games. Although he always makes a plan for his class, he doesn’t stick to it rigidly. He comes up with new ideas, taking cues from the children and changes his plan to suit the needs of his classroom.

Challenges

The constantly declining enrolment rate has been a major challenge in his school. More and more families are moving to the cities so there are very few children left in the village. He says that at this rate it would be difficult to sustain the school itself.

Ensuring that children and their families are persistently working towards improving learning levels and trying to get admission into the Sainik and Navodaya schools is another challenge. He may put in a lot of effort from his side but it ultimately depends on the children and their parents to keep working towards these goals. On the flip side, he feels it is also important for the parents to understand that all children do not perform at the same level. Each child has his/her interests and capabilities. He says that this is something hard to explain to families because they constantly compare their child’s performance to that of the other children and expect the teacher to ensure parity.

Other challenges that hamper children’s education are safety concerns due to wild animals. Alcoholism and domestic violence in some families also create an unhealthy atmosphere and children’s education inevitably gets impacted.

In Conclusion

For Head Teacher Rana, constantly reflecting on his journey and learning from it has been the biggest source of inspiration. He mentions that even after teaching for several years, he has many challenges to overcome. He also looks at challenges as areas in which he needs to improve personally. Fluency in English is one of them. He wants to improve his English so that it benefits his students. Also because of his busy schedule, he has not been able to participate in the cultural activities of the school. He wants to increase his participation in other school activities and also bring in more sports-related activities in the school so that the children can develop in areas other than academics. He regularly attends trainings organized by DIET and other organizations and tries to bring in new ways of working in his school while maintaining the balance between these and his own ways of engaging with the children.

He sometimes feels limited by all the other responsibilities of the school. He says that if he could get more children and teachers then, the studies can be organized much better. He will then be in a position to think more seriously of his endeavour of helping children get into good higher educational institutions and take coaching in the English language so that they feel confident travelling to places outside their village.

Even after all his efforts, from grooming the children to trying different ways to engage them in studies, children do not always continue in schools. Sometimes it is because of parents not being able to complete the documentation procedure for admission and, even if they get admission, they are not always able to continue their education for long. But it does not deter him as he proudly talks about the children who make to these schools and end up with better learning opportunities. Above all, he has earned the respect and love of the community, and the students, and for him, this is the biggest reward. Now parents themselves approach him for admission of their children so that they can get quality education. Parents trust him as he takes a personal interest in the children. Head Teacher Rana wants to write these lessons that he has gleaned from his teaching experience to help young teachers in their journeys.

Acknowledgements: I am extremely grateful to Mr Rana for sharing his story with me and to all the children at the school for their enthusiasm.  My heartfelt thanks to Ms Lata Sharma of the Azim Premji Foundation for accompanying me to the school and facilitating the meeting.

AUTHOR
Shipra Suneja, Faculty, Azim Premji University
Cover image: Representative image of a government primary school © Azim Premji University Archives.