If someone asks me, I would respond with three simple letters – Mom.  Indeed this was the most popular theme amongst the 300 students of the 700 who participated in the ‘Who is the greatest teacher of the world’ Essay competition by ASSET Scope (monthly newsletter for schools by EI) With Teacher’s Day just round the corner, the competition was organised for students across the country to encourage them to discern learning outside the classroom.

“It was a joy to come across entries by young learners expressing ‘life’ and ‘experience’ as their greatest teachers”, says Bindu Pillai, Editor – ASSETScope. Nallari, a class 9 student writes, “Every time we experience something new, we learn something new. When we look back at our experiences we realize that these experiences made the person we are today.”  For Shrishti Pal, there is no greater teacher than the all powerful nature, “Nature’s caprice makes it fatherly sometimes and motherly at other times. It teaches us to be tender, patient and understanding as a mother and to be bold and strong as a father.” “There were some touching entries that took me back to my childhood where children talked about how much their grandparents had influenced their lives”, adds Bindu.

And then there were some very unconventional teachers like the omnipresent computers or the 8 legged crawlies-spiders! and the winners are:

First Prize winner – Swaha Sinha, Bai A. F. Petit Girls’ High School, Mumbai

Second Prize winner – Reetica Pattanayak, Global Indian International School, Singapore

Third Prize winner – Somya Kumari, St Xavier’s School, Hazaribag

First prize winner has been awarded a 3D T-Shirt, second prize winner will get Magic Mug and third prize winner will get artistic pen.

To read the enteries click here