The blackboard story

The classroom was empty. All the students had left. The teacher also left after she arranged the answer sheets on the shelf. The papers would be distributed tomorrow during the parent-teacher meeting. She locked the door.

The watchman came around six in the evening and checked whether every room was locked and no one was left behind. There had been reports of children sleeping under the benches and locked away in rooms because nobody had noticed. It had happened in another school but the principal was not taking any chances. The teachers also checked before they left.

The clock struck ten. There was darkness everywhere. The light was switched on. The blackboard smiled. The chalks jumped out of the box and the notebooks out of the shelf. The benches and desks moved forward and the blackboard addressed them all. It told them of how the teacher had patiently taught the students and made them understand math and science without scolding the students. All the others agreed.

The chalk asked the blackboard about his experience in a more convenient school. The board then told them all about how he had been shiny and stood on a stand that was made of new wood. He had been taken to a school where the teachers and students were from an affluent section of the society. The teacher used to nag the students and made them work on problems on the blackboard and used to throw chalks at the students. He had hated the school and the teacher. The students used to hate classes and one day, a student who had been scolded for not solving a problem decided to damage the blackboard and scratched it and try to damage the wooden stand.

What happened ultimately was that the student had been suspended and the blackboard was put away in the storeroom till one day, it had been donated to the nearby school which was in dire need of supplies. The teachers there had repaired the stand and the blackboard was now the pride of this class.

All of them agreed that values define a personality and not money. The blackboard smiled and everyone went back to their places. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. The light was switched off by the blackboard which had an electronic switch set made by one of the previous students who was now an engineer.

©sayee
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