The past week has been a period of highs and lows that immediately followed the highs, that eventually ended in a harrowing climax.
This is to do with my dear FLL team of five. This super team was selected to compete in the Taiwan International Championship.
The issue of travel expenses was very altruistically taken care of by my company. The CR team was extremely generous and agile to negotiate and get funds for us. This was just fantastic, as our company usually sponsored the team that came first.
When we broke the kids, the kids were super excited. The school - the headmaster and the teachers, also appeared excited, but with some reservation. Why?
They also wanted to check if one of them can also travel to Taiwan (of course, the headmaster gets the priority).
The reason is that they wanted to ensure the safety of the kids. This is extremely essential, as this is the kids' first international travel - You know, how parents became extremely anxious even for a short trip out of school.
This seemed fine, though there was no real need for the teachers to travel, as we three mentors would be accompanying the kids anyway.
'Oh great!', said the headmaster, 'so your company will pay for the teacher as well, right?'
Oh yeah, so that’s how it was?! But that’s not possible – the teachers have, technically, no role in the FLL competition. And these teachers, absolutely had no role, except that they allowed the kids to participate in the competition. We told the teachers that this would not be difficult. They weren’t pleased:
Hmm, well in that case, things will be difficult.
You see, these parents are extremely anxious about their kids. And this is an international trip, travel by air (to note: None of the teachers have travelled in flights), so they might not really agree.
("Teacher, you remember the trip to Mysore and the 150 odd phone calls that came to us from parents, when something wrong happened to some kid?" Well, that just indicates that you aren't the right person to take care of kids isn't it?! Wrong example, perhaps?!)
And in fact, we already have 'tried convincing' the parents. The first question that they asked was in fact, 'Sir, are you also travelling? Or is Madam travelling? If not, we don’t want to send our kids.'
(The madam is always with a long, rounded stick with which she knocks on students’ heads. Parents want her to be the kids’ guardian? Oh perhaps, she uses the stick to rattle students' brains and put it good work?!)
We told them - see, we are not travelling. But that’s not something to worry about, as the company guys are going. But don't hold us responsible for all the (bad) things that might happen in Taiwan. We can't also ask the company people as we're completely out of the picture (That's some great convincing!).
So its not us, you see. We're all happy for our kids. But the parents will not let the kids travel without us ("Teacher, you remember the trip to....")
The teachers’ intention was clearly very clear. They were asking us what’s in there for them.
We tried speaking to the parents. They turned out to be people in the landscape that the teachers had painted. But I wouldn’t blame them, as it was apparent that the teachers have very clearly impressed on them their motivations(One of the teachers who tried convincing the parents was promptly asked if he didn’t have a class to attend to (instead of spoiling the fortune for the great teachers).)
There, that was how an opportunity that has all the potential to change the lives of five kids forever, was grounded down, because of a group of teachers wanted to have a free take-off.
So, what became of those people in that noble profession of teaching? Don’t I consider some of my teachers, if not all, as not just subject experts, but teachers of life-lessons? Didn't I want to emulate them? Is it not true that I still remember them with admiration and respect and as persons of great personal integrity?!
What happened to all of them? What happened to the idea of ‘Maatha, Pitha, Guru, Deivam’?
Somehow, it’s very difficult to accept the teachers’ wish as that of people who have never had the opportunity to travel abroad and let this go. Especially, when these teachers had never made any effort to understand this competition; even when the India finals happened in our own office campus, just a few minutes away from the school. If they had earlier thought that their responsibility stopped with allowing the kids to participate, I guess they should stick to that responsibility now as well.
It was so heart-breaking to see the excitement in the kids’ face fade into a sad helplessness.
I might get pas this experience , but I do pray that they break out of this shroud and the path, of following their parents, of becoming daily wage labourers.
PS: I have skipped the episodes where we tried taking up the case of the teachers with our benefactors in our company. They didn’t see any reason (very rightly so) why the company should sponsor. I have skipped the number of iterations we had with the school. Today, the CR department advised us to stop– they felt that the teachers might trouble the kids in the future, even if we coerce them to let them go now.
