'Teachers Should Be Role Models'

Following is the full text of the President's address on the eve of Teachers' Day:

Dear listeners of All India Radio and teachers, my greetingsto all of you.

I am talking to you on the special occasion of Teachers' Day.On this day, we gratefully remember the great educationist Dr SarvepalliRadhakrishnan, whose dream was that "Teachers should be the best minds inthe country". Hence, Teachers' Day is very important for all our people,for our students and even for all the parents, as the teachers lay thefoundation for creating enlightened citizens for the nation. On this day, Iwould like to recall three teachers who helped me in shaping my life.

To begin with I am going to talk to you about my father JanabAvul Pakir Jainulabdeen, as a teacher. My father taught me a great lesson when Iwas a young boy. What was that lesson? It was just after India got Independence.At that time Panchayat board elections took place at Rameswaram. My father waselected Panchayat Board member and on the same day he was also elected thepresident of the Rameswaram Panchayat Board. Rameswaram Island was a beautiful placewith 30,000 populations. At that time they elected my father as Panchayat Boardpresident not because he belonged to a particular religion or a particular casteor spoke a particular language or for his economic status. He was elected onlyon the basis of his nobility of mind and for being a good human being. Dearlisteners, I would like to narrate one incident that took place on the day hewas elected president of the Panchayat Board.

I was at that time studying in school. Those days we did nothave electricity and we used to study under ration kerosene lamps. I was readingthe lessons loudly and I heard a knock at the door. We never used to lock thedoor in Rameswaram in those days. Somebody opened the door, came in and asked mewhere my father was? I told him that father had gone for the evening namaz. Then hesaid, I have brought something for him, can I keep it here? Since my father hadgone for namaz, I shouted for my mother to get her permission to receive theitem. Since she was also on the amaz there was no response. I asked the personto leave the item on the cot. After that I continued my studies.

I used to learn by reading aloud in my younger days. I wasreading loud and fully concentrating on my studies. At that time my father camein and saw a tambalum kept in the cot. He asked me "What is this? Who hasgiven that?" I told him, "Somebody came and has kept this foryou". He opened the cover of the tambalum and found there was a costlydhoti, angawastram, some fruits and some sweets and he could see the slip thatthe person had left behind. I was the youngest child of my father, he reallyloved me and I also loved him a lot. He was upset at the sight of the tambalumand gifts.

That was the first time I saw him very angry and alsothat was the first time I had got a thorough beating from him. I got frightenedand started weeping. My mother embraced and consoled me. Then my father came andtouched my shoulder lovingly with affection and advised me not to receive anygift without his permission. He quoted an Islamic Hadith, which states that,"When the Almighty appoints a person to a position, He takes care of hisprovision. If a person takes anything beyond that, it is an illegal gain."Then he told me that it is not a good habit. A gift is always accompanied by somepurpose and a gift is a dangerous thing. It is like touching a snake and gettingthe poison in turn. This lesson stands out always in my mind even when I am inmy seventies. This incident, taught me a very valuable lesson for my life. It isdeeply embedded in my mind.

I would like also to mention the writings in Manu Smritiwhich states that "By accepting gifts the divine light in the person getsextinguished". Manu warns every individual against accepting gifts for thereason that it places the acceptor under an obligation in favour of the personwho gave the gift and ultimately it results in making a person to do thingswhich are not permitted according to law.

I am sharing this thought, with all of you, particularly theyoung ones, do not be carried away by any gift which comes with a purpose andthrough which one loses his personality greatly. Do you think, you can followthis in your life? I will be very happy if you can practice this sincerely.

When I think of my second teacher, I am reminded of mychildhood days when I was studying in 8th class at the age of 13. I had ateacher, Shri Siva Subramania Iyer. He was one of the very good teachers in ourschool. All of us loved to attend his class and hear him. One day he wasteaching about a bird's flight. He drew a diagram of a bird on the blackboarddepicting the wings, tail and the body structure with the head. He explained how birds create the lift and fly. He also explained to us how they changedirection while flying. For nearly 25 minutes he gave the lecture with variousinformation such as lift, drag, how the birds fly in a formation of 10, 20 or30. At the end of the class, he wanted to know whether we understood howbirds fly. I said, I did not understand. When I said this, theteacher asked the other students whether they understood or not. Many studentssaid that they also did not understand. He did not get upset by our responsesince he was a committed teacher.

Our teacher said that he would take all of us to the seashore. That evening the whole class was at the sea shore of Rameswaram. Weenjoyed the roaring sea waves knocking at the sandy hills in the pleasantevening. Birds were flying with sweet chirping voice. He showed the sea birds informations of 10 to 20 numbers. We saw the marvellous formations of birds with apurpose and we were all amazed. He showed us the birds and asked us to see thatwhen the birds fly, what they looked like. We saw the wings flapping. He askedus to look at the tail portion with the combination of flapping wings andtwisting tail. We noticed closely and found that the birds in that conditionflew in the direction they desired. Then he asked us a question, "Where theengine is and how it is powered"?

The bird is powered by its own life and themotivation of what it wants. All these things were explained to us withinfifteen minutes. We all understood the dynamics from this practicalexample. How nice it was. Our teacher was a great teacher; he could give us atheoretical lesson coupled with a live practical example available in nature.This is real teaching. I am sure many of the teachers in schools and collegeswill follow this example.

For me, it was not merely an understanding of how a birdflies. The bird's flight entered into me and created a special feeling. Fromthat evening, I thought that my future study has to be with reference to flightand flight systems. I am saying this because my teacher's teaching and the eventthat I witnessed decided my future career.Then one evening after the classes, Iasked the teacher, "Sir, please tell me, how to progress further inlearning all about flight." He patiently explained to me that I shouldcomplete 8th class, and then go to high school, and then I should go toengineering college that may lead to education on flight. If I complete all myeducation with excellence, I might do something connected with flight sciences.This advice and the bird flying exercise given by my teacher, really gave me agoal and a mission for my life. When I went to college, I took physics. When Iwent to engineering in Madras Institute of Technology, I took aeronauticalengineering.

Thus my life was transformed as a rocket engineer, aerospaceengineer and technologist. That one incident of my teacher teaching the lesson,showing the visual live example proved to be a turning point in my life whicheventually shaped my profession.

A student during his school life upto 10+2 spends 25,000hours in the school campus. His life is, more influenced by the teachers and theschool environment. Therefore, the school must have the best of teachers withability to, teach and love teaching and build moral qualities. Teachers shouldbecome role models. Similarly, the student must be alert to build himself withbest of qualities and to get ignited with a vision for his or her future life.

I would like to share with you another experience with myteacher Prof. Satish Dhawan. First, I worked in Delhi with the Ministry ofDefence. Later I joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in1958 at the Aeronautical Development Establishment at Bangalore. There with theadvice of the Director, I took up the development of hovercraft. Hovercraftdesign needed the development of a ducted contra-rotating propeller forcreating a smooth flow balancing the torques. I did not know how to design acontra-rotating propeller though I knew how to design a conventional propeller.Some of my friends told me that I could approach Prof. Satish Dhawan of the IndianInstitute of Science, who was well known for his aeronautical research, for help.

I took permission from my Director Dr Mediratta and went toProf Dhawan who was sitting in a small room in the Indian Institute ofScience with a lot of books in the background and a blackboard on the wall. Prof Dhawan asked me what the problem was that Iwanted to discuss. Iexplained the problem.. He told me that it was really a challenging task and he would teach me the design if I attended hisclasses in IISc between 2 pm to 3 pm on all Saturdays for the next sixweeks.

He was a visionary teacher. He prepared the schedule for the entirecourse and wrote it on the black board. He also gave me the reference materialand books I should read before I start attending the course. I considered, thisas a great opportunity and I started attending the discussion and startedmeeting him regularly. Before commencing each meeting, he would ask criticalquestions and assess my understanding of the subject. That was for the firsttime that I realized how a good teacher prepares himself for teaching withmeticulous planning and prepares the student for acquisition of knowledge. Thisprocess continued for the next six weeks. I got the capability for designing thecontra-rotating propeller. Prof Dhawan told me that I was ready for developingthe contra-rotating propeller for a given hovercraft configuration. That was thetime I realized that Prof Dhawan was not only a teacher but also afantastic development engineer of aeronautical systems.

Later during the critical phases of testing, Prof Dhawanwas with me to witness the test and find solutions to the problems. Afterreaching the smooth test phase, the contra-rotating propeller went through 50 hoursof continuous testing. Prof Dhawan witnessed the test himself andcongratulated me. That was a great day for me when I saw the contra rotatingpropeller designed by my team performing to the mission requirement in thehovercraft. However, at that time, I did not realize that Prof Dhawanwould become chairman, ISRO and that I would get the opportunity to work withhim as a project director in the development of the satellite launch vehicle SLV-3for injecting the Rohini satellite into the orbit. Nature has its own way tolink the student's dream and real life later.

This was the first design in my career which gave me theconfidence to design many complex aerospace systems in future. The hovercraftcould fly just above the ground level carrying two passengers. I was the firstpilot for this hovercraft and I could control and maneuver the vehicle in anydirection. Through this project I learnt the techniques of designing anddeveloping the contra-rotating propeller. Above all, I learnt that in a project,problems will always crop up; we should not allow problems to be our masters butwe should defeat the problems. Then successes will sparkle.

The three teachers in my life; what did they give me? In anintegrated way it can be said, that any enlightened human being can be createdby three unique characteristics. One is moral value system. That I got from myfather the hard way. Secondly, the teacher becoming a role model. Not only doesthe student learn, but the teacher shapes his life with great dreams and aims.Finally, the education and learning process has to culminate in the creation ofprofessional capability leading to confidence and will power to make a design,to make a product, to make a system, bravely combating many problems. What afortune and blessing I had from my three teachers.

Among the listeners, there may be many parents, many teachersand a large number of students. Every one of us in this planet creates a page inhuman history irrespective of who he/she is. I realize my experience is a smalldot in human life, but that dot has a life and light. This light, let it lightmany lamps.

My best wishes to all of you on this occasion of Teachers'Day.

Thank you.