Teaching is more than a profession – it is a responsibility. It is not only about ensuring that the children trust to you fulfill all their academic requirements – it is about building an emotional connection with each child, creating a bond that will enable them to confide in you, and giving them the confidence to dream and achieve. One committed teacher is all it takes to turn a student's life around for the better – I know this first-hand because that is how my story began.

My father was a farmer – the environment I grew up in was very different from that of children from more affluent families. I thought it was only those children who could go on to do something big in life – but one of my teachers changed that for me. She taught us Hindi, and connected with each of us beyond our books, encouraging us to share what we wanted to do when we grew up. She inspired us to dream and made us believe that it was our right to aspire to bigger, better things. She made such a huge difference to the way I thought and ultimately to my life, so I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be a teacher and play a similar role in other children’s lives too.

Growing up, we were not always asked how we were feeling, or why we behaved a certain way. As a teacher, I resolved that I would strive to build an emotional attachment with each of my students so that they would know that it was always safe to confide in me.

Growing up, we were not always asked how we were feeling, or why we behaved a certain way. As a teacher, I resolved that I would strive to build an emotional attachment with each of my students so that they would know that it was always safe to confide in me.

That's why my first course of action to address absenteeism or slow progress is to reach out to the child and talk to them. I teach the fourth standard – all my students are 9 or 10 years old, and that is a critical phase in a child's life. They need to know that they can achieve anything they set their minds to, that they can speak their heart out to me and above all, they are loved and cared for.

So, when a student does not show up to class or does not do their homework, I know that a reprimand is not the solution. Instead, I ask them how they are feeling. Is everything okay at home? Are they not enjoying the lesson we are currently on – are they facing difficulties with language or numbers?
Today, my class consists mostly of children of unskilled laborers. Nearly all of them come from homes where the fathers drink on a regular basis, and domestic strife is common. But these children – they want to learn and grow, they want a better tomorrow. And I am here to make them believe that a better tomorrow is possible – all they have to do is to believe in it and work towards it.

I remember an instance from a while ago – one of my students did not show up to school one day. I wondered if he was unwell. When I asked his friend if he knew anything, his friend simply said "Usko school aane ka mann nahi kar raha (He does not feel like coming to school)."

I was puzzled and concerned, so when the child came back to school three days later, I asked him if everything was okay. That was when he told me that his father had had too much to drink one night and had hit his mother. His mother had left the next day, and the boy had no idea if or when she would come back home.
My heart broke for this little boy. I sat and talked to him at length, explained that adults sometimes fought, and assured him he would not be alone. When he smiled pensively at me, I knew he would eventually be okay.

As an experiment, I began asking my students to maintain a personal diary. Only my student and I would have access to it, not even their family, friends or classmates. I promised to keep everything they wrote, to myself and kept that promise steadfastly. This encouraged them to think and write freely about how they were feeling at home, at school, or in the playground. Did something exciting happen in class today? Did something make them sad at home? Were they scared of someone on the road on their way to school?

Slowly, my children began opening up to their diaries, and then to me. They trusted me and I honored that trust and watched them blossom before my eyes.
That is what my journey as a teacher has been all about – trust and belief. My students trust me, I believe in them, and I would like to think that this inspires them to have confidence in themselves. What my Hindi teacher did for me all those years ago, I hope to do for these children.
Some endeavors take months to yield fruit, others take years. But teaching is an investment that yields both immediate and long-term results. You watch a child make progress and grow on a daily basis, while also knowing that you are helping to save an entire generation. That is what makes it so satisfying to me – teaching is its own greatest reward.

(The writer is a teacher with GPS Sector 2,3,4, Rohtak, Haryana. Views expressed are her personal. )