Srinagar, May 29 -- I still remember that day at Higher Secondary School Salia in Anantnag. The students stood silently at first. Then one by one, their eyes welled up. Some were trying to hold back tears. Others couldn't.

It wasn't a farewell party or a results day. It was a routine transfer of lecturers-something we in the education department are quite used to.

But what I witnessed that day wasn't routine at all.

Students were crying-openly, emotionally-for their teacher, Basharat Hussain. In a time when the bond between students and teachers often feels like a faded relic, this felt extraordinary.

And it made me reflect: what makes a teacher unforgettable? What kind of teacher moves a generation?

I've spent years as an educator i...