New Delhi: Happy Teacher’s Day 2016! The road to enlightenment is shown by our teachers, and though there is no way to repay what our gurus do for us, remembering them and thanking them on Teacher's Day is at least a small gesture that we can make. Search engine Google has done so by dedicating a cute animated doodle on the occasion.
In India, Teacher’s Day is celebrated annually on September 5, the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second president of India. Dr Radhakrishnan believed “teachers should be the best minds in the country”. When he was president, he once said that instead of celebrating his birthday, it would be a privilege for him if his date of birth were to be celebrated as Teacher’s Day, and so it was.
On this day, schools usually hold special celebratory activities for teachers, and students usually present a kind of remembrance and tribute for all the hard work their teachers put in all through the year for them, as a show of appreciation. One such fun activity in many schools also includes the swapping of places between students and teachers.
In many institutions, Class XII students dress up as teachers to take classes for a day, while teachers are given day to relax and take some time off.
India has another similar day called Guru Purnima, which usually falls in July and is based on the lunar calendar.
Today, Google’s doodle comprises of a bespectacled teacher pencil reading and teaching out of a book, while five student pencils follow suit — walking, skipping and jumping. This is the same doodle Google used for the US Teacher's Day this year, which was on May 3. Doodle artist Nate Swinehart had made the animated work to honour teachers “who’ve dedicated their lives to molding a thoughtful, compassionate generation of citizens. And to making sure everyone does their homework”.
As you may have realised, Teacher’s Day is celebrated on different days all across the world, and it also varies from the World Teacher’s Day on October 5. In India, September 5 has been celebrated as Teacher’s Day since 1962. These days differ because most countries have selected a day to honour a local educator or mark a milestone in education.
