School time

As some of you might know, we stay in a city named Karlsruhe, in the Southwestern part of Germany, the state is called Baden Württemberg. The academic year in this state and the neighbouring state, Bayern starts in the second week of September. This year the schools began on 12th September. But for the children who attend school for the first time, the first graders and the children who will complete primary school, i.e. fourth grade and go to secondary school, to grade 5 have their first day on some other day. Their school doesn't start with the regular ones as it is a new experience for them, and they need to take it slowly and systematically. My son started going to secondary school yesterday, i.e. in class 5. Yesterday was orientation day, where parents, grandparents, and other relatives accompanied their wards to the new school. A welcome band played for us, and the school principal welcomed us all and gave a small speech to the students, hinting at the new year and the challenges that may lie ahead. Then the children's names were called out and divided into different classes. Their class teacher took them to their respective classrooms and personally welcomed them with a small note for each of them. The class teacher gave them books on seven different subjects. Till now they just had Maths and German as main subjects. But now they will have Biology, Geography, English, German, Maths, Art, Music, Sports and Ethics. They will have one dedicated teacher for one subject and the classes would have around 30 kids. It will be a new experience for them and lots of learning and hard work. 

When my son brought the books back home, I took them in my hands and smelled them. They weren't brand new. They didn't have that typical smell I remember when I was at school. Four students had used the books for the past four years and were in excellent condition. I like the idea of reusing the books and handing them down to different batches of students. It instils responsibility and accountability and motivates them to use the books carefully. The school gives a list of materials like different notebooks for different subjects with other coloured plastic covers. I picked all the stuff today from a famous stationary shop called Müller and became nostalgic about my school days.

The school was always very special for me. We had to walk to school with our friends in secondary school. We decided where to meet and at what time. We often shared each other's tiffins. We had uniforms and strict rules about how to dress up or not. We were eager to know who would be our class teacher and who would sit next to me. We could choose our bench partners at that time, and often best friends got a place next to each other. We had an annual day at the end of each year, which was a gala time for us. We participated in different dances and danced on the stage without any fear. There were inter-school singing, dancing, elocution, and poetry competitions throughout the year, and we participated in them with great enthusiasm.

During my school time, we had to buy books on our own. The school didn't give us anything. A few students who couldn't afford a new set got an old collection of books passed on from an elder sibling or some friends. On the day school gave us books, I took them in my hands and smelled them. The books were always brand new and crisp, and the black printed ink on white paper smelled so good that the enthusiasm to start studying for the new year knew no bounds. Every year, my dad always did the boring and tedious task of putting covers on all the textbooks, workbooks and notebooks with great concentration and dedication. Every book cover he cut was perfect, and there was not a single cover in which angles were wrongly or unevenly cut, or there wasn't a single cover that didn't fit the book after his fantastic artwork. Then he dutifully wrote my name on all the books with his beautiful handwriting. I was so blessed and pampered! I so wished my handwriting was 50 per cent as good as his. I always was in awe of his perfect English and his writing skills. In addition, he and my grandfather often helped me prepare speeches and essays for school. I often got prizes in the elocution competition, thanks to them!

School stationery is something that I still love as an adult, and I flip over whenever I go to a stationary shop. The different pens, pencils, colours, books, erasers, and compass boxes keep winking at me and talking to me. They ask me to pick them up though I hardly use anything else now except the laptop at work and my mobile phone. But still, I feel strongly attracted to such things, even now. I don't know why? Maybe it has some connection to my childhood, where my dad kept all this stuff in the medical shop he owned, and I spent most of my time (when I was not studying) in the medical shop with him and my grandfather. I often helped them maintain the cash register and attend to the customers. I knew all the books for sale there and often read the stories or lessons from other school books. I hoarded many pens as I loved collecting them and writing with different pens on paper. I loved my handwriting though it wasn't as good as my father's or granddad's, but I often won prizes at school for best writing and made them both proud. 

The school days were simple and uncomplicated, and the only aim at that time was to study and get good grades. We were punished and reprimanded for wrong behaviour, and the parents were convinced that we must have been up to something to invite the teacher's wrath. They never thought that the teacher had done anything wrong in scolding or even hitting us sometimes. We loved and respected our teachers, but we also feared them. They were never our friends, and rightly so! We had a few favourites and a few whom we disliked. But we were never disrespectful towards them and we didn't insult our teachers anytime. I want to say that those were the best days of my life when we were carefree and happy, and that was a sound base for our life as adults.

Times change, the medium of instruction changes, and students and teachers change. Therefore, it is essential to keep up with the changing times and prepare kids and students for new challenges and opportunities. Smartboards, online classes, and learning on Ipads and devices have become a trend. The kids nowadays don't miss writing physically. But I do! I miss writing physically with a pencil and a pen in a notebook or on paper. As an adult,  I have hardly got the opportunity to write anything except on devices. 

I was fortunate enough to have a good school and education. The education prepared me to be adaptive, responsive and ready to take on challenges. And I can't thank my family and my teachers enough. I am today what I am because of them!