Troubles of teachers

Long retired from an agriculture college at Navsari, I often chuckle over some memories involving students, though the incidents had deprived me of sleep for many nights.

There was only one agricultural university with four agricultural colleges and various research stations under it in the 1970s in Gujarat. Navsari had one of these colleges offering courses from graduate to doctorate levels.

A government scheme to depute staff members working in educational institutes or departmental offices to an agricultural college to improve their educational qualifications was in operation. Most of the students were family men and had their children admitted to local schools. They were staying in hired buildings.

Many students were weak in English, as the subject was not given much importance in schools. Correspondence was done in Gujarati, which was the official language. There was a rule that the university would cancel a student’s registration if he failed in a subject four times. A postgraduate student on deputation had sat for the fourth time in the English test.

The university followed the newly introduced semester system. The teacher of a course had a lot of power to decide the fate of the students as the university had followed “the teacher is the evaluator” rule.

One of the deputies to the M.Sc. course had failed in an English course three times and had sat for the fourth time. That evening, he came to my home and admitted he was sure to fail this time also unless I helped him.

When he left, I found a bottle of whiskey hidden under that day’s newspaper: a bribe for me. Gujarat, the home state of Mahatma Gandhi, was, and is, a dry state, though there is no dearth of drunkards in the State. Possession of liquor was a punishable criminal offence. For a moment, I had the vision of the student taking revenge by tipping the police off me.

I knew that my neighbour was a worshipper of Bachhus. He was happy to oblige me by taking the bottle off me with twinkling eyes. I heaved a sigh of relief when he was outside the premises.

When he departed, my wife and sons looked at me as if I were responsible for the situation, and pleaded to help him pass the examination.

After the incident, I took care to see that my visitors had bare tea tables before them, and anything kept on them would be visible to all.

pillaikss@yahoo.in