Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher
India celebrates the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as National Teachers’ Day as a tribute to his contributions and achievements. Born on September 5, 1888, Dr. Radhakrishnan not just served as the President of India but was also a scholar, philosopher, and Bharat Ratna awardee.
Born in a poor Telugu Brahmin family, Radhakrishnan completed his entire education through scholarships. He possessed a master’s degree in Philosophy and authored the book ‘The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore’ in 1917. He also served as the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936 and the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1939, succeeding Madan Mohan Malviya.
He went on to teach at Chennai’s Presidency College and Calcutta University. In 1931, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna — the highest civilian award in India in 1954. He was admitted as an honorary member of the British Royal Order of Merit in 1963.
During his lifetime, Dr Radhakrishnan was a meritorious student, a celebrated teacher among students. It is said that while he was serving as the second President of India in 1962, his students approached him to seek permission to celebrate his birthday – September 5 – as a special day. To this, Dr Radhakrishnan instead made a request to observe September 5 as Teachers’ Day, to recognise the contribution of teachers to the society.
Despite all his achievements and contributions, Radhakrishnan remained a teacher throughout his life. Teachers’ Day is celebrated to honour the memory of India’s first Vice President and to commemorate the importance of teachers in our lives.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru once said on Radhakrishnan, “He has served his country in many capacities. But above all, he is a great teacher from whom all of us have learnt much and will continue to learn. It is India’s peculiar privilege to have a great philosopher, a great educationist and a great humanist as our President.”
Teacher’s day is one of the most memorable days in the life of a teacher and a student. It is a day when teachers can relax and talk to their fellow teachers, unlike the entire year when they are working hard for several hours every day. They work during school hours as well as after school hours are over. Different schools celebrate Teacher’s day in different ways. Children do various things to celebrate and appreciate their teachers on this day.
It’s Day to Appreciate your Teachers
Every student should appreciate and value his or her Teacher. Each Teacher makes many sacrifices every day to help you. Teachers are one of the people in your life that will always put you before anything else.
Every school has a different way of holding Teacher’s celebrations. One of the ways that students celebrate the day is by impersonating the teachers. Students from high school dress up like their teachers. They put up skits for their teachers as well as go to different classes to teach other subjects. It is one of the best parts of the Teacher’s day celebration. Students look forward to impersonating their teachers, and teachers look forward to seeing these skits. Each student dresses up like a particular teacher, some wear sarees, and some wear formal pants and shirts. Students try their best to match the clothing of the Teacher they are impersonating. The junior classes have to sit for classroom sessions taken by the senior students. It is different from regular teaching. Other students in the classroom do additional activities.
Teaching is the greatest act of optimism
