Thank you Teacher

Thilan was afraid of his class teacher, who also taught them Mathematics. Mathematics was Thilan's least favourite subject as well. He found it to be uninteresting. Making sums was always dif cult for Thilan, because he didn't pay much attention to it at school and he never bothered to improve it at home or to do his homework.

This was not a big problem when he was in the lower grade classes.

But this year things were different. His class teacher paid a lot of attention to the students who did not perform too well in class and to make matters worse, she gave homework every day and checked their books the next day.

Their class teacher was tough with the students. She scolded those who didn't pay attention and those who didn't do their homework. So Thilan came early to school and copied the homework from his friends every day.

This went on for a while until one day Thilan copied answers from his friend Shanuka. The teacher corrected their homework books one by one, while the students solved a sum. "Shanuka and Thilan, please stand up!" she said suddenly. The boys smelled trouble by the tone of their teacher's voice.

Both children stood-up, meekly. "One of you has taken down the sum incorrectly from the text book and the other one has obviously copied from that one, because both sums are written and solved in the exact same way!" she said hitting the table with a foot-ruler and standing up staring at both boys.

Thilan felt his ears turning hot in fear. He was so scared he wished he could vanish. "Tell me who copied from the other one's book?" demanded their teacher. Shanuka looked at Thilan and Thilan looked down. The teacher guessed at once that it was Thilan who had copied. She scolded Thilan in front of the whole class and said that she would complain to the Principal if this happened again. As punishment, Thilan was given six additional sums to be solved as homework.

After school Thilan complained to his friends about how much he disliked Mathematics. "I don't like Maths because of our teacher," he said. "She hates me so much!"

"But that's your fault, Thilan. You never do your homework or try to learn how to solve the sums," argued his friends. But Thilan disagreed. "It's the teacher's fault," he insisted. "She doesn't like me. That's why she always scolds me!"

After this incident Thilan's teacher paid even more attention to him and checked his homework very carefully. She'd sometimes call on him and ask him to explain how he got the answer. Thilan knew he had to nd a solution, as copying others’ homework didn't work anymore.

So he started paying attention in class and making the sums at home. As a result he improved in Maths and after a few months he didn't even need to copy anymore.

But Thilan still disliked his teacher a lot. She still scolded him whenever he made a mistake and punished him along with the others who made mistakes, which Thilan found scary and embarrassing at the same time.

One day after school, Thilan stayed back for cricket practice. The staff-room was across the ground and Thilan saw his class teacher doing some work there. Thilan felt very hot and sweaty and suddenly his teacher and the staff-room started to look unclear and blurry. That was all he remembered.

When Thilan opened his eyes, he was lying on a bed in the school sick-room, where students who were ill, were treated. He felt someone gently touching his head. As he looked up, he saw his class teacher fanning him with a sheet of paper. He felt so scared that he tried to get up. "Relax Putha, it's okay.

You are alright now," she told him kindly. She had never talked like that to Thilan and he felt very surprised.

"You fainted. Didn't you have any lunch?" asked the teacher, holding out a lunch box full of sandwiches to Thilan. Thilan slowly ate a sandwich as he was very hungry. "Whose box is this Miss?" he asked her as he took another one. "It's mine. But that's ok, you can have these," she said smiling and Thilan was even more surprised at her kindness towards him.

"Although this is not the time, I still want to tell you this," the teacher told Thilan. "You have improved a lot in Mathematics and I am very proud of you for your effort!" "But Miss..." said Thilan, "I thought you didn't like me at all!" The teacher smiled gently. "Why did you think so?" "Because you always scold me and punish me," Thilan said very softly. "That is not because I dislike you Putha, that is because I care. I want you to do your very best. Because, if not, you would have never improved this much!" Thilan knew that this was true. If he was not scared of his teacher, he would never have bothered to learn how to make the sums.

Thilan sighed, feeling very sad for misunderstanding his teacher. "I would have continued to copy from my friends and not learn a thing, if you didn't scold me and make me pay attention and do my homework. Now I understand why you were so tough on me," Thilan looked at his teacher with gratitude. "Thank you Miss. I am so thankful that you are my teacher!"