By 2016 Fellow Bishal Neupane

June 15, 2016

It was an important day on the school’s calendar year…

As soon as we reached our school, we wanted to prepare yearly action plan for the new session.

We sat down with the other teachers and formulated the plan that included exam schedules, result day, exhibition day, sports weeks and all the vacations. Everyone in the school knew there was a monthly test scheduled. We wanted to check our students’ progress. The test was executed just like we had planned. It was 46th working day of school and it was more than just a test for me. I was both curious and nervous about how my students would perform in the examination because I felt that it would be my assessment too, to evaluate my own work through my kids’ performance.

The test was successfully conducted and I was checking the papers. I was also designing the monsoon vacation homework for the kids. It was hectic and almost midnight. To my surprise, I got a text on my cell phone that read “Happy Birthday…”

I wore my Dad’s shirt that morning. As usual, I walked the 15-minutes’ walk to school, having some self-affirmative talk, visualizing all of the probable events in the classes that I was about to take. All I had in my mind was to get into the classrooms, ask them for their monsoon vacation plans, share mine as well and give them instructions about the work I had designed for them and the effort they would have to put in, and what was expected in their work.

I am the class teacher of Grade Seven-the Rainbows of our school- the class is ever colorful and students always cheerful. As I approached their class, I saw few of them standing outside of the classroom looking at me. When they got sure that I was the one they were looking for, they ran away inside the classroom. I wondered why they were running like that! As I approached near, I heard “Sir aayo sir….  1,2,3….”

Everyone was standing, singing “Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday dear Bishal Sir…” instead of usual “Good morning, Sir”. Everyone had something to gift me- flowers, nice handwritten birthday cards, khada; but I knew deep inside that, more than anything else, the gestures of love, warmest of wishes and acceptance was everything I wished to have at that moment.

We divided few chocolate bars into 44 pieces and enjoyed eating them together. They requested me to sing a song. I was about say I didn’t know how to sing a song but then I remembered what I had told them earlier… “We don’t know mathematics because we’ve never practiced them.” Maybe it was time for me to practice some singing now!

Every classroom I went inside that day had a similar scenario: chart paper pasted on white board wishing me a happy birthday, a towering cake’s drawing and many more creations and handwritings all over them beautifully pasted. In class nine I was sharing my birthday with another student. My Co-fellow had informed the students about my birthday and she played “Happy Birthday” tune on violin and wished both of us. I wore birthday cap for the first time. I celebrated my longest ever birthday with more than 170 people around me. I thanked them for everything they did. I shared a little about my family, my life and how I got there to work with them through Teach For Nepal. I said I’ve never had this sort of experience before in my life, they replied with “Sir, we also had never done anything like this before because we hadn’t known any teacher’s birthday before.”

I told them that they will be part of my stories everywhere I’ll go. That day, I not only celebrated my 23^rd birthday, but I felt that I celebrated my life.

There’s a birthday chart in class that reminds us of everyone’s birth dates. We celebrate each other’s birthdays together and those are the most precious moments in classroom as it makes the birthday boy/girl feel special. We all stand on our feet and sing for the birthday boy/girl. I have been giving them a pen each as a birthday gift, which I had bought from funds we collected on the Shiva Ratri evening during our institutional training. School feels like home especially during such occasions.

P.S. I didn’t forget to give them their vacation homework on my birthday despite the day being so eventful and surprising.

Bishal Neupane (2016 Fellow) teaches Math at Shree Chilaune Secondary School, Thangpalkot-6 Manekharkha, Sindhupalchowk.