Allow me to stray a little bit from the usual format of the A Day in My Life column. I am not writing about a specific moment or day, but am rather looking at different snippets of my own experiences as a teacher.
I do not intend to use this as a platform to sing my own praises – I would rather like to deal with some misconceptions about our noble profession of teaching. But I believe some aspects of this would still lend themselves to the spirit of the column. So for this purpose I would like to call this column A Lifetime in the Day of Parween Khan.
It is said that when a knock at the gates of heaven is heard, St Peter asks who it is and is usually answered with: “It’s me.” He then takes his time to open the pearly gates. But when he hears the response: “It is I,” he rushes to throw open the gates and says: “Welcome, teacher (of English), welcome. You truly deserve Heaven!”
How I wish there were more people as appreciative as St Peter of the proverbial load that is the language – and more specifically the English home language – teacher’s lot in life. Instead I am far more likely to be greeted with a comment: “Oh, how lucky you teachers are – you have a half-day job and four holidays a year.”
Frankly this is a simplistic view and I have come very close to committing murder in response to this comment. So often have I heard this inane and uninformed statement, spoken in a patronising, holier-than-thou tone – and by so many different people – that it is just by the grace of God that I have not become a serial killer.
There is no such a thing as “half-a-day” for us teachers. When the last bell of the school day rings, it does not signal the end of our work. No, we mark learners’ work and, more importantly, prepare for the next day – at home, nogal.
A typical day in my life starts at about 5am with a quick shower followed by early-morning prayer. Thereafter I do half-an-hour of marking or attend to any unfinished schoolwork. I then prepare breakfast and school lunches for my children and myself. After a quick breakfast we leave for school at 7am.
Luckily, my children attend the same school where I teach. I teach two grade 10 classes, two grade 11 classes and grade 12 English home language and life orientation to one grade five class. At knock-off time, I remain behind to train the debate team or listen to someone’s speech or practise a play till long past home-time.
When I get home I attend to various domestic chores, my children’s school and madressa (Muslim’s religious learning session) homework to supervise. When I finally get to the work I brought home, it is already between 9pm and 9.30pm. This is when I actually envy nine-to-five workers who have time to relax and watch television.
The four holidays people envy us for are usually spent planning for the next term or completing the marking of test or exam papers. The “long” December holiday is in part devoted to planning for the new year.
This may sound like a litany of complaints, but it is not. It is merely a reply to all those people who think that teachers have it easy and should really not be asking for a salary increase or any other kind of incentive.
I am definitely not whining. In fact, having reviewed a typical day in my life, all I can say is: “Thank you God for a full and fulfilled life. Thank you, not just for a job, but for a vocation. Thank you for the strength, enthusiasm and knowledge to try and make a difference. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of touching young lives and being enriched by them.”
Parween Khan is a teacher at Potchefstroom Combined Secondary in Mohadin in the North West