Dear Diary,

Today was the first day I ever entered the classroom, this time not as a backbencher but someone who nags and yells at them. Yes! I'm a teacher, the path not consciously chosen but somehow destined. While my other friends chose the corporate hustle, There I was at the gates of an institution with a four-room building almost at the verge of collapsing. As if a two-hour bus ride was not enough to add to my horror. I was determined to serve and deliver as much as I had in my capacity.

Finally, I entered a not so fancy classroom, Cobwebs dangling down, a ceiling fan that could almost collapse on my head any moment. I dusted off the podium and the blackboard and nervously wrote on the board the topic “Natural Resources”. The expressions on the face of the students were as if they had seen an alien object or heard something unusual. It was a B.sc first-year class, very enthusiastically I asked one of the students to explain to me the definition in simple words. It was quite shocking and disheartening for me that more than 50 % of students were unable to deliver the concept introduction successfully.

It made me furious, but somehow, I maintained a calm demeanour and asked the students whether it was a joke or a prank to offend their new teacher. One of the students stood up and in a bleak voice and a broken English managed to convey the meaning to me. Applauding him I told him to sit and left the class in between. I was confused and thought to myself how these students have managed to reach here if they couldn’t put such a simple concept into words. 

In the break time, few students approached me with a sorry note. Their faces told how they did not want to offend their teacher and scare her on the very first day. They shared that during their school time teachers never paid attention to the concept building but instead just told them to cram up stuff. It made it very clear that the loophole was in the very foundation that is the early learning years. It is imperative that society at large understands the importance of early childhood education and establish a sound educational foundation for the children of our country, providing them with a safe, nurturing environment as well as the stimulation needed to prepare them for the transition to the early grades as well as later on in life.

Much of the most critical brain development in children takes place before they even reach early grades and formal education systems. A global study revealed that children from the poorest families learned approximately 30 million fewer words than those from more affluent families by age three. This directly impacts their academic performance later in life. That language deficit cascades on to the next generation, creating a negative loop. These children then end up in low paying jobs and even worse unemployed. It creates this never-ending vicious cycle.

While access to Early childhood literacy is instrumental to childhood development, teachers play a very crucial of a role in setting children up for a successful future. So instead of just telling them to fit in and run in the rat race, one can envision themselves in making a difference in moulding young minds when it matters most in today's world.