THE PAIN AND THE JOY OF A TEACHER

Two years ago I was in the car of a Principal , we were actually coming from a social function outside Abeokuta , when we got to NNPC filling station he decided to refill his car  , we drove in and the man came down to stretch his leg while the refilling was going on, I noticed a tall young man  in chocolate coloured safari suit approached the petrol attendant and whispered something to his ears and went back to his car parked behind ours , few minutes later the Principal raised an alarm , " ... did I not said #2000 ! you are approaching # 6500  already " the petrol attended smiled a bit and pointed to the jeep car behind us and said " he said I should fill it up ) , at that point the young man came down smiling and prostrated, he introduced himself as the Principal's former student and that the man taught him Chemistry , he went further to inform the Principal that he is a medical doctor and  works with WHO and that he actually travelled  down to Nigeria on vacation , he dipped his hand inside his inner pocket and gave my oga something which my oga later revealed to me inside the car as foreign currency . Before we left the scene he collected the Principal's phone number and his account number .
      The above is just one out of many good stories from retired and serving teachers . Yes various governments either military or civilian over the years might be owing us salaries, leave allowances , delay in promotion letters, making us to work in an in conducive environments , treat us as the underdog of the civil/public service , transfer us at will claiming that our condition of service states that we should work and live around anywhere that we are posted , making civil servants to rule and directs our boards  ( a situation that is only peculiar to teaching but can't happen in judiciary , core civil service , local government service, national university commission  etc), refusal to give over 30000 teachers in both primary and secondary schools at least substantive Permanent Secretary with all the status and paraphenelia  of office attached from among the fold but prefer to have almost 30 PS in the core civil service just for a little bit over 10000 civil servants etc
  Dear teacher, I am aware of all these but these pains can't be compared to the joy after .  While the core civil service for instance deals directly with files , memos and figures we mold lives, while the lecturer in the higher institutions deals with finished products we deals with fresh lives that are bendable, adjustable and open to correction . No wonder somebody said recently that a teacher's product are his students .Let us strive to do the best on the job, let us counsel, let us be their best friend , be their confidant and make them have absolute trust in taking right decisions for their future . Don't introduce the girls to the family way be her father, don't introduce those boys to hooliganism and cultism be their big uncle, it is absurd to hear that you send them to go and buy food for you without giving them money, what are you teaching them ? We are role models for crying out loud , that hair style, that flashy and distractive dress were not part of the pedagogy we were taught in Principles of Education Sir and ma, if you sincerely worked and toiled to earn your school certificate result why introduce them to examination malpractices ?
  Finally , a governor in the south west region was at a function and was speaking glowingly and proudly of one of his old teachers , how he changed his life, and taught him the act of reading etc , unknown to him the second son of his old teacher was seated among the audience , one of the governor's men whispered this to his ears , he stopped in the middle of his address and said 'I understand that the son of my old teacher is here please stand up ' the son stood up , tears of joy filled every eyes in the gathering especially when the son told Mr Governor that his father died two years back , the Governor grabbed the hand of the man and said  " my teacher is not here today but you are here, we shall go back to my office to discuss together' . Interesting , isn't it  ? Your guess is as good as mine .