Teacher emeritus Dipankar Sarkar of Patha Bhavan receives his award at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2014. Picture by Rashbehari Das

He was never a good student, or so he insists. But Dipankar Sarkar has always been a great teacher because he understands the needs of students who remind him of how he used to be.

Sarkar, mathematics teacher at Patha Bhavan since February 1969, has gone from almost being rejected in the interview to becoming the teacher emeritus of an institution with over 2,000 students.

On Saturday, surrounded by the students whose lives he has touched, Sarkar received The Radhashyam Roy Memorial Award for An Outstanding Educationist at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2014, presented by Peerless in association with Parle-G and powered by Adamas University.

“I had been almost written off by the interview board because there were others who were academically better than me. I later learnt that I was appointed because historian Sushovan Sarkar (who was on the board) said: ‘This boy will teach well’.”

That was December 1968, two months before Sarkar started teaching a classroom of five students. “The school hasn’t allowed me to leave till now….But I don’t know whether I have been a good teacher because that is for my students to say,” the 70-year-old told Metro at his residence in Narendrapur.

Among the many students who variously describe Sarkar as “wonderful”, “affectionate” and “caring” are filmmakers Sandip Ray and Anik Datta and Justice Arijit Banerjee.

“He made a dry subject like mathematics fun and interesting. His teaching methods were different. He is someone who would switch from maths to films and then go back to the chapter. We would look forward to his classes,” recalled Sandip Ray, among those who attended the awards ceremony on Saturday.

“It’s amazing how he still retains his youthful look and sense of humour,” said Anik Datta, director of Bhooter Bhobishyot. “Apart from teaching us mathematics and Bengali literature, he would discuss varied subjects ranging from cricket to cinema, and he instilled certain sensibilities in us that are invaluable,” recounted the filmmaker, who completed his schooling at Patha Bhavan in 1978.

Many of Sarkar’s students have remained in touch with their favourite teacher, visiting him at his ancestral house in Kalighat or his current address in Narendrapur.

Anik Datta (top) and Sandip Ray at The Telegraph School Awards function on Saturday

Sarkar has fond memories of a day in the early 80s when singer Amit Kumar, another famous alumnus of Patha Bhavan, made a surprise visit.

“Amit had landed at Calcutta airport and heard from someone that a school function was underway at Rabindra Sadan. He came to the hall straight from the airport, literally picked me up off the floor and went straight to the green room so that we could chat,” Sarkar recalled.

Under Sarkar’s guidance, batch after batch of students have organised plays, musicals, dance dramas and painting exhibitions. The last such production was Tasher Desh, staged this July.

Satyajit Ray, who was in the school committee when Sarkar was recruited, would visit exhibitions organised by the school at Sarkar’s initiative till the mid-Seventies .

When Sarkar once suggested that Ray be requested to judge the paintings at an exhibition, Patha Bhavan co-founder Uma Shehanobis told him that the filmmaker would never judge children’s work. “Umadi told me that he would say: ‘Chhotoder chobi judge kora jay na…ora onayashe akash-e lal rang kore dey (You can’t judge children’s paintings…they don’t shy away from colouring the sky red)’,” the veteran said.

Sarkar’s introduction to Ray happened through his son Sandip, who was in Class X when he joined the first batch of Patha Bhavan. “In 1974, Sandip took me to Lovelock Place where Sonar Kella was being edited and introduced me to his father. I saw him sitting through the editing chewing on the frame of his spectacles. Before leaving, he instructed a member of the editing team to show me the sequence that had been edited that day,” Sarkar recalled.

Sarkar officially retired at the age of 65 in 2009 after five extensions of his service term. But Patha Bhavan wouldn’t let him go, so he was made a part-time teacher for the next three-and-a-half years. Since being appointed teacher emeritus, Sarkar visits the school whenever any major decision has to be taken and for managing committee meetings.

His advice to all teachers: “Make yourself acceptable to students, only then will the subject become acceptable”.

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