My Learning and Teaching Journey in Mumbai

My experiences as a student and then a teacher have left lasting impressions on my perspective of what education is for. Throughout my journey as a student, I was lucky to have had many passionate, clever teachers that instilled a thirst and love for knowledge and books. More importantly, they made a difference in my life. Values like empathy, positive mindset and decision making became a crucial part of my educational journey as a student. I knew from the time I was young that I wanted to help others discover the wonders I had been shown.

I remember coming home from school and teaching my grandfather what I had learned in school. At home I was the teacher who was trying to enlighten her only student in class. A small act of compassion as a child helped me learn and develop my own belief in the oneness that connects all of us as human beings with a collective consciousness, which requires constant care and attention. Immediately, after completing university, I began working as a teacher in an international school in Mumbai. Though the teacher training programme had groomed me for this day, I still found myself ill-equipped. None of the courses in the teacher training program seemed to have prepared me for the emotional journey that I was going to take up as a teacher.

For the next five years working as a grade five teacher, I had become a slave to the redundant educational system. I didn’t feel any connection with my students and most importantly I wasn’t able to help my students discover the values and connectivity that I had learned as a child. These experiences have taught me that without the vision and vigilance of teachers and inclusion of social and emotional side of education, students will grow up in a world steeped deeply in chaos and detachment. Often, these students are dealing with more than weak academic skills. They are preoccupied and, at times, completely overwhelmed by anxiety that has hijacked their abilities to cope, to concentrate, to be present and to learn. Every experience brings a new understanding and learning that enables a shift in pattern so that it’s not repeated. A few years later, my experiences as a teacher further shaped my perspective that the purpose of education is to connect with oneself and to the community at large, taking care of what is around us and using the knowledge gained for the betterment of the society.

Education is also an avenue that prepares individuals to think for themselves as well as make moral and ethical decisions. Education means "To nourish", "To bring up" and "To rise".