‘While teaching, a miracle happens every now and then’: Abraar Ahmed

I have been teaching for the last 14 years; I started in 2008.

What drew you to the profession?

Pursuing teaching was not a sudden decision. I am the eldest in my family and I started out by teaching my younger siblings. There were other cousins, too. I was fascinated by the idea that an idea in your brain, can within 15 minutes (of teaching) travel to someone else’s brain. That is a miracle which I experienced when I was probably in class seven. In college, my seniors suggested I should go into the education field. I told them that I would rather teach students in college than those in school. They advised that I should not look down upon the profession and that I could devise various ways to teach school students. Meanwhile, I would lead study circles in college and I earned the moniker of a teacher among my friends. I then had this urge to work in a school, where there would be many students. These were flashes of inspiration that gave me a purpose in life.

What has been your best moment as a teacher?

There’s not a specific moment but ‘the best moment’ happens every other day. For instance, when I am teaching a difficult concept like calculus. When they start to understand, their face just lights up, it’s so charming. That is something only a teacher can experience — the powerful feeling of a child’s potential. There are days when you utterly fail or the children are not in a mood. But something beautiful happens every once in a while.

And your worst moment?

Again, not a specific moment but a multitude of experiences. Every few months, you have to meet parents at the parents-teachers meeting. And then you get a parent who doesn’t like the way their child talked to them or wasn’t able to answer their question. They doubt the child and the teacher. These kinds of meetings can be a mini hell. You can’t get into a battle of wits and then you learn which stakeholder requires what kind of treatment.

What are your future goals as a teacher?

Teaching is a high-energy profession where you have to be constantly talking. However, slowly I would like to detach myself from this profession and sit down quietly at a table to be able to write books. I always wanted to get into the field of literature. I used to write short stories and have a list of my favourite Russian authors. I would also like to write about education. This field has shaped me immensely. I already have a collection of anecdotes and observations that I have accumulated over the last 14 years.

As told to Aditya Vaddepalli