The School I Once Wanted to Leave

V Durgadevi

Three years ago, when I entered this school after getting transferred here on my own willingness, the first thing I noticed was the dusty playground.

I still remember that feeling.

The school was so different from the one where I had worked earlier. That school was surrounded by greenery and spread across acres of land, with tall trees standing between the buildings. The moment I entered through the gate, the beauty of the place seemed to take away all my worries.

I would usually be the first to reach the school in the morning. My students would come running to me, and we would get ready for the morning assembly together. Those mornings had become such a beautiful part of my life that the school almost felt like heaven.

So, when I entered this school and saw the dusty playground, I could not help comparing the two.

My first thought was, “Something is missing here.”

I had worked in this school earlier on deputation, but things were different then. After joining here permanently, I found myself eagerly waiting for the next counselling, hoping that I could move to another school.

But the students were never the reason.

In the beginning, I often spoke about my previous school and my students there. I wanted these children to understand the importance of discipline, punctuality, dedication and education. But my intention did not reach them in the way I had hoped. For some time, they felt that I was constantly comparing them with others.

Slowly, that changed.

They began to understand the reason behind my strictness, and I began to understand them better too. The hesitation between us gradually disappeared. Without realising it, I had begun to feel connected to this school and to these children.

Then, unexpectedly, another responsibility came into my hands.

I had never planned for it or even prepared myself for it. But when the responsibility came, I simply accepted it and decided to do whatever I could.

And the first thing I thought about was that dusty playground.

I formed a team and began working with them to change the surroundings. We cleaned, improved and gradually brought more greenery into the campus.

The difference today is something I can see with my own eyes.

The place that had disappointed me on my first day had slowly become a place I wanted to make better.

Perhaps, somewhere along the way, the school had changed me too.

The most beautiful moment of this journey came recently.

I was invited to be a judge for an event at an art festival held in the higher secondary school in our locality. Many district-level officials and other dignitaries were present. I was standing in front of the stadium when a large group of my former students suddenly saw me.

And then they came running towards me.

These were the children who had been my students at the high school just a year or two earlier and had now moved on to higher secondary education.

The moment they saw me, nothing else seemed to matter.

They came towards me with the same affection they had shown when they were my students. Some hugged me. Some touched my feet for my blessings. Some simply stood close to me, wanting me to bless them.

I was standing there among many important people, but at that moment I noticed none of them.

I could see only my students.

Their spontaneous love touched me more deeply than I can express.

I had gone there as a judge.

But standing before those students, I felt as though they had silently judged me—and given me the most beautiful verdict a teacher could ever receive.

Their love told me that they had remembered me.

Their affection told me that the strictness I had once shown them had not pushed them away.

And their running towards me told me that somewhere, in some small way, I had found a place in their hearts.

I simply embraced them and blessed them.

That moment stayed with me.

It made me realise that some rewards in life cannot be given on a stage or written on a certificate. They come unexpectedly, in the form of children running towards you with love.

I thought about the school I had once wanted to leave.

If someone had told me on my first day that this place would one day give me such a beautiful memory, I would never have believed them.

Today, when I enter through the same gate, I no longer see only the dusty playground.

I see a school that has changed.

I see children growing.

I see possibilities.

And I see a part of my own journey in all of it.

Perhaps life sometimes takes us to places we did not want, only to give us experiences we never expected.

I came here thinking about the school I had left behind.

But somewhere along the way, this school became a part of my story.

And on that day, when my students came running towards me, I understood something very simple:

A teacher may move from one school to another, but the bond created with students can travel far beyond the school gates.

(வ துர்காதேவி, பட்டதாரி ஆசிரியர், அரசு உயர்நிலை பள்ளி-நெசல், திருவண்ணாமலை)