Teachers' Day - A Joyful Teacher Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

I was a joyful teacher
and I dedicated myself
to the cause of education
as life kept moving my sails
in the direction of the wind called education;
I chose to spread knowledge with love
I was an apostle of wisdom and teaching,
this is the opinion I had of myself.

When I was a teacher, I loved my students
and I always liked to see them happy;
they were the flowers of innocence
they had their future blooming before them
they were like birds in a forest
they were like flowers in a desert
pining and yearning for
the harvest called learning.

When I was appointed as a Class teacher
for Grade IV and as a Subject Teacher
for Health and PE in an American School
in Saudi Arabia, I taught my students
to listen and to learn, to read and to study;
I taught them to be confident and certain
as their future would be based
on the foundation they laid;
I gave them less of homework
and I integrated their assignments as class-work
so that I could perceive their caliber and response.

I even gave my students extra marks
if I knew they were intelligent,
and if at the time of examination
they were nervous and had made mistakes,
as I told myself an academic year could not be lost
when all the year round they kept struggling.

And as I taught them I always asked them
to select and share their questions with me;
and the answers we spoke loudly
for other students in the class to hear and know;
I would even ask them to express their difficulties
and solve every doubt without resentment or hate.

I would never condemn them
I would encourage them to achieve success
as it made me feel so proud of myself
when they passed and ran home with joy
with their report cards.

And as a Teacher, I made the learning process
interesting to my students in my own way;
I made my students to hear me as I talked,
I elaborated as much as I could,
to make them understand the chapters
they had to learn.
I even taught every student in the school
to play basketball and though we would play
in the hot summer sun of Saudi Arabia,
it never deterred our zeal or enthusiasm.


I even shared my experiences of travel
and told them of the places I visited
to entail their interest;
I would make my students avid listeners,
I would enhance their memorizing power;
I would ask questions and amuse them
I would even teach them to sing and play,
together we would form our own friendship -
a friendship between a teacher and students,
it was one of a kind - a set of different minds
but with one common purpose called education.


As a Teacher for KG and Primary Section
in the UAE, my job as a Supervisor
was so engrossing
as students looked forward to
extra-curricular activities more than their books;
and as I always believed outdoor activities
were more important in a student's life
as all work and no play made Jack a dull boy,
I would teach my students so many things:
I would teach them to sing and to play;
to be agile and active, outspoken and brave.

As a Supervisor, I would request my colleagues
to see that their lesson plan
was in consonance with the syllabus;
there were moments when as teachers
we shared our ideas so that our work inputs
gave us satisfying output
that at the end of the academic year,
our students achieved good results
in their examinations.

The most poignant memory in my life arises
when I was appointed as a Teacher
in a Lebanese school in Abu Dhabi
where every child looked so pretty
and there were so many Syrians students
whom I taught and I often recollect of them
as they were so gracious
and loving though so naughty;
today it worries me to think about them
as war has devastated their country Syria
and I pray that they will all be safe
wherever their future has led them.

And as years and time kept passing
a teacher's life was not a bed of roses
as getting up early in the morning,
coming home hungry in the noon
was also a part of a life's drill;
and as age kept climbing uphill
energy kept going downhill,
I kept getting tired and fatigued
so, I told myself it was time to quit
rather than get more weary.

And finally as I conclude,
all that I can say as a teacher,
over those years
I have been instructive and supportive
to all the students I met and taught
along my way;
and the truth still reverberates
in my conscience
that education is the best gift
a teacher can offer to her students
while she walks that journey educating,
imparting and sharing her knowledge
which the students themselves carry along
across the borders and boundaries
to be great and successful people
while the teachers of their childhood years
they seldom remember.