WHAT IF………………. I HAD NOT BEEN A TEACHER?
God has His own ways to teach and inspire! This adage came true to me recently. Like any other teacher, I was given the opportunity to conduct a ‘What if …?’ session with students of SVM. June being the month of Environmental significance, had the theme of Environment to take up a ‘What if’ related to it. Least realising the impact on me, all I could think of, was the ways in which to develop concern and connect children to mother Earth. To my amazement, these novice learners ranging between age 9-14, had such great efficacy for the blue planet, that it seems they are all set to transform this scorched landmass into a well-balanced green alley.
What if the bees disappeared? What if the ice age returns? What if the dinosaurs and humans coexist? What if………..? These What if’s opened a different doorway to learning. I wondered how the age old Indian Education system of collaborating nature in the curriculum worked to create empathy and oneness in human beings. Students displayed immense opportunities of coexistence with nature, innumerable options of sustainability and shocking repercussions of dis-balance, if any of the species goes extinct.
The probabilities ranged as ‘We would not have any flowering and fruition left on our earth if bees became extinct. So what do we do without our favourite sauces, jams, spreads, fruit shakes etc’.
‘We would use sleighs to commute to school, all houses as igloos, zero down on Air Conditioners and Compressors, more conical vegetation, mankind would perish’. ‘We would use dinosaurs for huge infrastructure development, to deploy in defence sectors for fighting enemies on frontiers, for developing new medicines for curing cancers and other ailments. Having Dinos around meant having dense rain forests and no question about any kind of pollution.’
These innocent deliberations left me pondering over a realisation that, “ take care of small things,and the big things will ultimately fall in place”
There is so much to learn from the little learners. Yes as a teacher, we just need to pop that cork out of the soda bottle. The onus lies on a teacher to kick start the process of analysing, trouble-shooting and on top, sensitising the curious minds of young stakeholders of the planet.
May be the humanity today needs to stand united and vow the following- “Dear mother Earth, we pledge our devotion and respect to you and will strive to preserve and protect your fundamental systems.”
Who knows the next topic could be……. ‘WHAT IF THERE ARE NO HUMAN BEINGS LEFT?’
Mrs. Kiran Dewal