Bravo and thank you to all ‘good’ teachers!

Sir Frank Peters (tie)

Your recent report paying homage to the teaching fraternity on World Teachers’ Day was exceptionally accurate and most befitting. I’m sure it brought much joy to the teachers who read it.

I’ve been married to a schoolteacher for 22 years and your writer Sir Frank Peters has a good insight into the minds of ‘good’ teachers (as he describes them). He is quite correct when he says teaching is a vocation and not just a job.

I learned this before we were married and I knew how important teaching meant to her. It most definitely is a vocation. I’m convinced if I had insisted she gave up teaching, the marriage would not have happened!

What Sir Frank doesn’t mention in his excellent tribute report is the joy, love, and respect good teachers are given years after the pupils have left the classrooms and became adults.

My wife, Anita, has been invited to countless birthday parties, weddings, circumcision and birth celebrations as if she were a member of their families and, without exception, there’s always a small respectful note attached telling her not to bring a gift!

I’m amazed by the dedication and long hours my wife devotes to her teaching profession and her multi-tasking abilities to handle everything else, including the upbringing of our two teenage children.

Sir Frank will be very pleased to learn that my wife has never used corporal punishment, not even once, throughout her successful teaching career and we have never used it in the home.

Thank you for your well-written tribute. Not only is the accolade well deserved, but appreciated by all those who deserve some time in the spotlight for the right reasons.

Prof. Alam Ahmed,

Banani, Dhaka.