Honoring Teachers

 September honors teachers in India and China in various ways. While World Teacher's Day is observed on October 5th annually, this September observance in parts of Asia coincides with "Back To School" - "First Day of School" traditions of a new academic year in United States of America and the United Kingdom. There are also coincidences with the American and Canadian Labor Day - the first Monday of September that marks the end of "Summer" / "Vacation season" calculated from May Day to Labor Day!

A good teacher is fundamental to the quality of education. The fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4) is quality education. As vital and intrinsic as the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG 2) -  Achieve Universal Primary  Education by 2015. 

As Aristotle put it, 

"Give me a child until he is 7  and I will show you the foundations of the man."

SDG 4 

                             Millennium Development Goal MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education by 2015.

 

Parents who can afford it pay a stiff fees to ensure quality education throughout their child's school years to ensure a good future, yet teacher pay and teacher recruitments have stagnated. 

In China, Teacher's Day has been observed on September 10th since 1985. Gift giving and honoring teachers is quite common as a teacher, especially in rural regions change lives of their students. 

India - National Teachers Day - September 5th

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan the second president of India who  assumed office in 1962 called for the celebration of teachers when this celebrated teacher's students wanted to celebrate his presidency. India has long had a reverence of teachers - putting the "Guru" even ahead of "God" though second to parents in the recommended hierarchy:

"Mata, Pita, Guru, Deivam" [Mother, Father, Teacher, God] 

India's Guru-Sishya [Teacher-Student] Tradition and residential learning at Gurukuls - the homes of teachers - is entrenched in myths and traditions thus centering the power and influence of teachers. 

Teacher's day in India also coincides with the rising of the Canopus star - the second brightest star in the night sky in the southern skies. Canopus is believed to represent the Vedic Sage Agastya - truly a teacher if teachers - in Hindu tradition. 

"Ancient Indian astronomers named the star Canopus after Sage Agastya because its rising in the southern sky historically coincided with the calming of the stormy monsoon waters of the Indian Ocean. The star is referred to in texts like the Brihat Samhita as Tirthakara or the cleanser of waters, signifying that waters become clear and calm for safe maritime travel and agricultural ease."

Agastya, the God of Wisdom & River Kaveri 

In addition to the honoring of teachers and the rising of the post-monsoon star, September in the subcontinent celebrates the Elephant Headed God of  Wisdom and remover of obstacles Lord Ganesha, who himself has a entertaining myth with Sage Agastya regarding the origin of the River Kaveri, the life line and life force of the Southern Indian States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Lord Ganesha took the form of  acrow and freed the river goddess when the sage set his water vessel with the river goddess he had obtained as boon from Lord Shiva to address the drought in the subcontinent. Thus the wise remover of hurdles decided where this mighty southern river started. 

Lord Ganesha also broke off his tusk in Hindu mythology to transcribe the Hindu Epic The Mahabharata - as narrated by the Sage Vyas. It must be noted that the famous guide to Hindu "dharmic-kaarmic" [moral duty & universal  law] life the Bhagwad Gita itself is centered in this civilizational epic poem. This then positions the God who gave us the Bhagwad Gita  as the ultimate teacher: That's Lord Krishna an avatar of the Protector God Vishnu of the Divine Trinity (Creator-Protector-Destroyer) atop the Hindu Pantheon, whose very challenging birth is also celebrated in September (September 4, 2026).

The ultimate teacher - Krishna and the Bhagwad Gita

Synopsis of Lessons from the Bhagwad Gita

Thus the beginning of September as the South West Monsoon clears in the subcontinent and Autumn begins across the world, we honor the Teacher - the Guru - in many forms. 

Living in troubled times, besieged by crisis after crisis (or as Shakespeare puts it in Hamlet's famous soliloquy  "...The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"), finding shelter in teachers and their teachings - in foundation and faith we can access  our creativity and optimism to live through these times. To choose to be!