Saqlain Abid Tarrar, a graduate engineer and writer, once had a clear dream of becoming a teacher. His inspiration came from his own teachers and mentors, who instilled in him a curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Tarrar wanted to capture the attention of young students and stimulate their minds, just as his teachers had done for him. He joined a college as a lecturer, eager to deliver his knowledge and experience to his students. His motto was simple: change the world, even if only by influencing a few young and distracted minds.
Tarrar introduced himself to his students as a graduate engineer and writer who loved Urdu literature and had read nearly 500 books. He asked every student to introduce themselves and implemented a simple rule: every day, students could bring one question that genuinely intrigued them. The student who brought the toughest and most thought-provoking question could be exempted from the next quiz. The objective was not merely to complete a syllabus, but to create a culture of thinking. This approach worked, at least initially, and Tarrar's students were engaged and motivated.
However, as deadlines approached, the pressure of syllabus completion, quizzes, assignments, and examinations gradually collided with Tarrar's teaching methods. Administrative restrictions narrowed what had once been an open classroom. Once-a-week activities became once every fifteen days, then once a month, until Tarrar found himself caught between the teacher he wanted to be and the administrator he was expected to satisfy. He began to feel that the system was flawed, prioritizing numbers over curiosity and genuine engagement.
Tarrar attributes the problem to a systemic paradox, rather than blaming individual institutions or people. He notes that the curriculum may be adequate, and the time may be sufficient, yet the obsession with numbers changes the purpose of education. A few high-performing students become the visible success stories, while the rest are often expected simply to move with the flow. This is where passion begins to fade, and Tarrar is not alone in his concerns.
Tarrar's experience with Gen Z classrooms revealed that every student has a different universe, and a teacher cannot live in all those universes simultaneously. His students were expressive, willing to say what they thought, and relatively open to new ideas. However, they were also selective and disliked lengthy processes, preferring shortcuts and immediate results. Tarrar wonders if the current system provides students with enough resilience, patience, and determination to rise after failure.
After five years of struggle, Tarrar decided to leave the classroom. He realised that he was no longer living according to his own values and that his passion for teaching had become a daily routine. The most painful moment came when he realised he was no longer recognising himself as the teacher he once wanted to become. Tarrar's decision to leave was not because he had stopped loving teaching, but because he could no longer reconcile his passion with a fragile system that increasingly treated education as a numbers game.
Tarrar still misses the classroom, not because he had no reason to leave, but because he had every reason to stay, and the system gave him too few reasons to continue. Perhaps teaching was never his failed profession, but his unfinished passion. Tarrar's story serves as a reflection on the challenges faced by teachers and the need for a system that prioritizes curiosity, creativity, and genuine engagement over numbers and conformity.
Key points
- The education system prioritizes numbers over curiosity and genuine engagement.
- A teacher's passion and creativity can be stifled by administrative restrictions and a focus on syllabus completion.
- The current system may not provide students with enough resilience, patience, and determination to rise after failure.
