The pandemic has been a challenging time for teachers, students and parents alike. With school and higher education institutes on verge of reopening, educators reflect back on this year. Today on the occasion of Teachers' Day, we at BW Businessworld ask teachers their view on how the last year has affected their work, changed perspective on the role of teachers and how they have adapted.

Here's what they had to say:

“This role was greatly challenged in the past year and a half, as the lockdown impacted the usual instruction methods and teachers had to adapt to digital alternatives. But they rose to the challenge magnificently, finding novel ways to keep students engaged, igniting the spirit of curiosity and ensuring learning continuity in virtual learning sessions just as they would have done in the physical school environment.” 

- Kavita Sahay Kerawalla, Vice-Chairperson, VIBGYOR Group of Schools

“What we have witnessed so far, during the pandemic, is a teaching workforce that is passionate for their calling, and capable of adaptability, flexibility and resilience. We need to empower them further with the right support, and enable them to continue mentoring India's children using all the necessary touchpoints.” 

- Anish Srikrishna, CEO, Times Professional Learning

क्लास में शिक्षक का रोल निभाया,

कभी मां बनकर समझाया,

तो कभी बड़ी बहन सा प्यार लुटाया,

भटक ना जाए ये लक्ष्य की राह, 

जगाए रखनी पड़ती है इनके मन में एक चाह।

चुपके से सुनाए अकेले में वो दिल की बात,

बनना होता है मां तब, एक शिक्षक के साथ।

अहसास दिलाते अपनेपन का हाले दिल वो अपने मन का।

- Santosh Singh TGT Computer Science Higher Secondary School Banasthali Vidyapith

“A sense of community has slowly disintegrated with zoom thumbnails, wherein on one hand, we are able to connect with people from all over the world but at the same time, we are less and less aware of all the problems that the world is facing as of today” 

- Vaibhavi Kowshik, Assistant Professor, Institute of Design, JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur

“We continue to evolve, grow and enhance our teaching practises with our academic experts who are always learning new ways of music education and creating resources that inspire and help our learners excel their goals and most importantly have a happy learning journey.” 

- Dharini Upadhyaya, Co-Founder, Furtados school of music

“I missed all these aspects of a physical class during the ongoing pandemic.It is essential to establish concrete safety measures to achieve a disease-free campus. Educational institutions must encourage vaccinations for their faculty and students to create a relatively safer learning environment. Furthermore, institutions must promote and emphasize the importance of adherence to Covid-19 safety protocols like social distancing, sanitization, wearing masks, etc. This is the way forward for the education industry to sustain the imparting of practical skills to the students”

- Er Koneru Satyanarayana, President, KL Deemed to be University

“Being a teacher is not just a profession it’s an integral part of our life. Our morning starts with the smile of students, our heart breaks when we see a tear in their eyes, we feel elated when we see them climbing the ladder of success. From the bottom of my heart, I congratulate all the teaching faculty for their sincere efforts during the tough and challenging Pandemic phase. Teachers have always accepted all challenges with a smile and during this period too we created a deep connection with our students. From traditional chalk and duster teaching, using aids and maps we coped up with our gadgets teaching our students online. Once again, we did it!!”

- Neha Dhiraj Bhalla, B.M.Gange Girl’s Senior Secondary School, Delhi

Educators have always been the source of inspiration for students and this year has been no different. Whether it is through teaching or through their actions, teachers' all around the world have risen to the challenges of the pandemic and distance learning. Despite the issues they themselves faced, students, have always been the number one priority. This is clear especially when speaking to educators and the challenges they have, the primary concern is always the student. After all, every student needs a teacher and there is no teacher without a student. As Rabindranath Tagore once said, "A teacher cannot truly teach unless they are learning themselves," this year has been a testament to that.