Showing a little concern wouldn’t hurt, Cikgu

WHEN we think about a school teacher, the image that immediately comes to our mind is an individual standing in front of the class teaching Bahasa Melayu, English, Mathematics or any other subject.

The truth is, a teacher is supposed to be more than just someone to guide students to ace examinations. Basically, the teacher is the only other adult a child would spend most of his/her time with during an entire year. So the duty of a teacher isn’t only to convey knowledge but also to care and show compassion, concern, kindness and love.

I went with my mother the other day to pick up my brother from school. We normally pick him up at the entrance of the school where both the primary and secondary students wait for their parents. The primary school children are dismissed at 6.20pm and the secondary ones are dismissed at 6.40pm.

My brother who is in Form 1 came out at 6.45pm, took his sport gear from inside the car and said he would be practising until 7.30pm in the school field. My mother and I decided to wait outside the school for him.

As we were waiting, we noticed a boy from the primary school standing by the gate. He looked to be a Standard 1 pupil and had a panicked and scared look on his face. He was the only primary school pupil left and it was almost 6.55pm.

A number of teachers from both the primary and secondary schools were leaving via the entrance at that time but none of them bothered to ask the boy why he hadn’t left yet.

Being a teacher herself, my mother wanted to get down and ask the boy why his parents hadn’t come and even offer her phone for him to call them.

As she was about to do so, one of the senior teachers who was just driving past the entrance saw him, stopped her car and asked him why he hadn’t left. She gave him her phone to call his parents and even offered him a ride. But he declined and she left.

A little while later, we saw another teacher whom we recognised as my brother’s Standard 1 class teacher driving past the entrance. She did exactly what the other teacher had done and even waited with the boy for a while.

Why didn’t the other teachers show the same concern as these two did? Even if they were in a hurry to get home, couldn’t they have stopped for a little while to talk to the boy?

I do agree that his parents should come on time to pick him up but they could have been involved in an emergency that held them up. In this case, would showing concern and care to your own students be so much trouble?

A teacher is supposed to be more than just someone to guide students to ace examinations.