42.Teacher or Counsellor?

“Are you a Teacher or a Counsellor?”…This was a question posed by Prof. Murthy of  IGNOU, New Delhi during  an Orientation Programme for  the faculty  teaching in different centres of IGNOU.

Then,  Prof. Murthy  went on to narrate two  touching personal incidents  related to the role he had to perform  as  Counsellor.

Once he received a letter from a chap residing in a  rural village in North India. The chap had registered for a Post Graduate course  in IGNOU.  A fortnight later he complained to  his Counsellor and  Co-ordinator of the Study Centre Prof. Murthy, that his friends  have come to know that he is studying for a PG course offered by IGNOU and is making fun of him and is not allowing him to study. 

Treating the letter as insignificant, Prof. Murthy threw away the  Post Card and forgot all about it. A fortnight later,  another Post Card arrived from the chap inquiring why Prof. Murthy had not replied to the mail. Now  the Professor knew, that this is a serious matter. After all in a close-knit society like a village, every one knows what the other person is doing. So  he cogitated on the matter for  a whole day and then send the chap the  following advice:

The first thing you have to do is to give your friends the impression that you are not going to continue the PG course offered by IGNOU.  Find out when your friends go to bed and when they wake up.  Spend the normal time you usually do with your friends and  make them feel happy. But wait each day for your friends to go to sleep. Then, study for two hours. Likewise get up three hours before your friends and study for three hours. Five hours  a day is more than sufficient to study for the course.

After mailing the reply, he had forgotten all about it. Two years later while working in the New Delhi office,  a  chap walked into his office and offered ‘pranam’. He thanked Prof. Murthy for the advice which he gave and   told  him how the advice  helped him to complete the PG course!

The second  incident Prof. Murthy narrated related to an incident in  a war torn country in Africa.  A team from India was despatched to  help set up  a centre of IGNOU in the country which was fighting a pitched battle for nearly ten years. The  building in which the  centre was to function was ridden with bullet holes and the roofs  had cracks. Finally when the students arrived, they  said that they had travelled two days without proper food and  requested for food before the commencement of any  academic session.  So  food was served  to the   students  before the commencement of classes.  Five days later, when the contact classes were over, one of the students  asked Prof. Moorthy for his wristwatch saying that he had nothing  at home to call his own and if he had to submit assignments on time, he needed a watch to know the time. Realizing  the plight of the student,  Prof. Moorthy  removed his watch and handed it over to the student who thanked him profusely.

The two incidents were narrated by Prof. Murthy to make the participants realize the simple fact that there is a lot of difference  in being a teacher for the  students in the normal stream and for students   taking the IGNOU course  who are designated  ‘Counsellor’. 

Now…  a good Teacher we know, is a Counsellor too… But how many of us  are a model  teacher  like Prof. Murthy?