A Teachers’ Day celebration on campus was held on the 5th of September, the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, at CLT. The event was attended by teachers and students alike and was presided over by the Director, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi. The Chief Guest for the day was Prof. K K Balasubramaniam (Retired Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, IIT Madras).
The evening’s proceedings began with a prayer, followed by the welcome address delivered by The Students’ General Secretary and the felicitation speech by the Research Affairs Secretary.
In his presiding address, the Director talked about the sacred relationship between teachers and students, how this was once a one-to-one relationship and how such a system used to benefit the students. “But these days,” he said, “the only people who get to experience this sort of mentoring are research scholars. The classroom model is being followed now due to its practicality and it does have its own merits.” He elaborated on the role of a teacher beyond academics, in providing inspiration and shaping students’ characters.
The Director’s speech was followed by the introduction of the Chief Guest by Prof. Sundar. Subsequently, Prof. Balasubramaniam, who was celebrating his birthday on the same day, spoke about his unique experience at IIT Madras. He spoke at length of the constraints of modern-day education, and shared a few of his experiences at IIT-M – how he had felt overwhelmed when he first came here and how he had developed and improved as a teacher over the years.
Before Dr. Jyotirmaya Tripathy delivered the Vote of Thanks for the day, the Young Faculty Recognition Awards were presented, and it was the highlight of the day. Instituted in 2006 to recognise excellence, only teachers younger than the age of 40 are eligible. The awardees were:
- Dr. Arockiarajan A (Applied Mechanics)
- Dr. Madhulika Dixit (Biotechnology)
- Dr. Boby George (Electrical Engineering)
- Dr. Kalpana K (Humanities and Social Sciences)
Interviews with the YFRA awardees will follow. Watch this space.
