The Futuristic Educator And An Ideal Mentor

Kalpana Santosh – Teacher, Amara Jyothi Public School

Kalpana Santosh, an incredible teacher with a remarkable experience of 7 years in the Education sector, bears a highly refined skill set including classroom management, lesson planning and organization. An immensely enthusiastic teacher at ‘Amara Jyothi Public School’, with a knack for making learning exciting and enjoyable, Kalpana is highly motivated by the belief that all children can be successful learners.

“Every human being in this world in one way or the other is a learner and I think we need a key to unlock the wisdom by learning the unlearning. I want to be that key to unlock students’ potential. Teaching is the only profession where you can make a difference in students’ life”, she believes.

Deeply inspired by her father who always instilled a positive attitude in her, Kalpana shares her father’s thoughts – “Train your mind to see the good in everything and positivity is a choice. The happiness of life entirely depends on the quality of thoughts”. Her father used to think about life as a bicycle and immensely believed that to keep the balance, one must keep on moving. He used to say- “We must never stop, if you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but at least do something and keep moving”. She also looks up to her charismatic Kannada teacher Mr. Chennabasappa, who believed in students’ learning through discovery and desired for the students to go beyond the average work to get an ‘A’ grade.

Considering herself as a typical middle class girl from an orthodox family, Kalpana had to go through major hurdles in her life. She shares, ” Anyone from a middle class family background knows that life can be all about balancing: balancing the family income and expenses, aspirations and realities, wants and needs. Over time, this ability to find a balance brings about a sense of maturity and responsibility”.

Explaining about the value of money in her eyes, she says, “Everyone desires to get those finer things in life but not at the cost of one’s family’s financial security. I used to wonder how life would be, if money was no object, to which I found the answer of transforming my passion into profession. It gave me so much satisfaction which no amount of money can buy”.

While Teaching is not being considered as one of the most sought after careers in India, she aspires to raise its status as a career choice in the country by eliminating the general perception of people about this profession that anyone can become a teacher as it takes minimal skill and is nothing but glorified baby–sitting. “It cannot be denied that teaching is a rewarding yet challenging career. It demands broad knowledge of subject matter, curriculum, and standards; enthusiasm, a caring attitude, and a love of learning; knowledge of discipline and classroom management techniques; and a desire to make a difference in the lives of young people”, shares Kalpana.

Expectations have always been a challenge for Kalpana, who shares, “Parents expect that the teachers should be like SUPER HUMAN BEINGS (ROBOT), the students expect their teachers to know everything and your own family expects quality time. But, no where the expectation of a teacher comes into the picture, which is, to be respected and accepted as a human being along with all their pluses and minuses”.

Kalpana’s other side could be witnessed through her areas of interest such as fitness and she believes that being healthy is the utmost necessity. Considering her smile as her biggest weapon, she says,” Always remember to smile as most smiles are followed by another smiles and happiness keeps on following those smiles”. Kalpana, who believes that ‘success is not the key to happiness but happiness itself is the key to success’, has won the award of Cultural Secretary, Treasurer and Vice President of the college.