Teacher’s Diary: When motivation saved a distressed student from wasting her academic year
A teacher recalls the day when his student skipped her Hindi exam and lost hope to sit for the remaining examination due to illness. He motivated her to think about the loss of an academic year and not let the setback of missing an exam impact her remaining exams. The student has not only completed her technical diploma but is also pursuing her graduate studies in science.
Arun Mishra 21 Feb 2023 1:06 PM GMT
Bishnupur, Barabanki (Uttar Pradesh)
This incident is about six years old. Amina Khatoon was the brightest student in my class and all the teachers hoped she would bring laurels to our New Jai Hind Inter College which is situated in the Bishnupur village of Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district.
Amina’s father owned a grocery store in the village and her daughter’s education was his biggest priority in life. However, days ahead of her class 12th board examinations, Amina fell sick and could not muster the courage to appear in the examinations. Hindi was scheduled to be the first exam and she missed it.
Upon realising her absence in the exam centre, I went to her house to enquire about her. I got to know that she was in pain and wasn’t able to sit straight which prevented her from appearing in the examinations.
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What was worse was that after missing her Hindi exam, Amina was utterly demoralised and had lost the confidence to sit for exams.
She repeatedly complained that if she cannot sit straight for hours, how would she appear for the examinations? Meanwhile, her medical treatment was underway and she was getting better. I asked her to rest and let her health improvise and if she feels better during the gap of days after the Hindi exam, she should come to the examination centre.
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After five hours of motivating her to think of her career and the future ahead, she was convinced that she should not let the other exams go to waste. I tried my best to convince her that a compartment exam could be arranged later to compensate for the loss of the Hindi exam but she should definitely be brave enough to not miss more exams.
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When the results came out, we were all thrilled! She scored 87 per cent in her 12th boards which was a good performance considering her bad health.
Presently, Amina has completed her diploma in computer learning and is pursuing her graduation in science. She aspires to serve in the medical field.
