India, Sept. 5 -- For me, Teachers' Day is more than a ceremonial tribute. It is about remembering the countless faces of students whose lives were changed by a teacher who believed in them. It is about recognising that every good doctor, engineer, lawyer, artist, professor, and entrepreneur exists because of a teacher. As a teacher myself for decades, I have witnessed how a single encouraging word, a well-crafted question, or even a moment of silence in a classroom can alter the course of a student's life.

I have seen both privilege and constraint in education - on one end of the spectrum, global universities with access to resources, technology, and networks; -on the other, Indian classrooms where teachers perform miracles with little ...