The work is done by a teacher:
A teacher is a person who normally goes about teaching his chosen subject or subjects to a given set of classes. Except for a few more senior teachers, an ordinary teacher is usually in charge of a particular class for which he/she has to keep a register of all the students in that class. Besides, those fees have to be collected, test marks to be compiled and a dozen little things to be done in the course of managing the class.
On average a teacher will have to teach for about four or six periods a day out of a possible eight or nine. If he is lucky, he would only have to teach the same subject to the same form only. All he has to do is to repeat the lesson for each class. Some teachers are not so fortunate. They may be given a few different subjects to do for different forms. Then they would have a lot of preparations to do before entering the classes to teach.
After the teaching is done, there is invariably the pile of exercise books to be checked over and marked. This marking of books can take hours if the teacher is diligent. Otherwise, the teacher will just skim over the books as quickly as possible so as to be able to have some time left for going to the tuck-shop and having a chat with the other teachers.
Every month, a teacher has to prepare questions for the monthly test. Obviously, the answers have to be graded, compiled and given back to the students. Then there are mid-year examinations and final examinations to prepare for. This whole process of examining the students takes a lot of effort and time. All these have to be done on top of the regular teaching that a teacher must do.
When the bell goes to signal the end of a school day, a teacher’s work is not done yet. Though most teachers would head for home to take a well-deserved meal and rest, soon it will be back to school to coordinate the extra-curricular activities, sports, and games. One teacher may have to look after the scouts, another the photography club and yet another the hockey team. All in all, each teacher is involved in an activity of some kind. A young teacher may find it in his stride to kick the football around with his charges whereas a veteran teacher may just sit under the shade of a tree end watch them kick about on their own.
When school functions like the Annual Sports and Speech Day come around, the teachers would be worked to the bone. There are a million things to look after to ensure that everything goes on without a hitch. There is always the headmaster to answer if ever anything goes wrong. Nobody likes to be faulted for anything. So, each teacher does his work properly. An intelligent teacher will get the students to help him. There are always students eager to help. A!! the teacher has to do is to ask.
Sometimes a teacher may have to take a group of students on a trip outside the school. It may simply be a trip across town for an inter-school soccer match, or its ma’,’ be a tedious trip outstation to visit a place of interest. Whichever it is, a teacher’s responsibility is very heavy indeed. He is in charge of a group of young energetic kids who maybe only a few years younger than him. An inexperienced teacher may have a hard time looking after these kids.
Then when the end of the year arrives there is always the hectic schedule of conducting the examinations, both internal and external. There is also the task of tying up all the loose ends before the students go on holiday. During the long vacation, a teacher may have to attend a course either to improve his teaching skills or to mark examination papers. Then for the rest of the holidays, he hunches himself at his desk trying to meet the deadline set for him. A more fortunate teacher would probably enjoy his holiday to the hilt.
So, when the year changes to a new one, each teacher returns to school once again to carry on the task of teaching.