AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF A BLACK-BOARD
I am a
black-board. Again many people address me as chalk-board also. I was first
invented in 1801 by James Pillans, Headmaster and Geography teacher at Old High
School in Edinburgh, Scotland. Later in India, I have to tell that I was made
of a type of stone called slate. I was excavated in Madhya Pradesh, carved and
polished, and then sent to shops selling me. From the shop I reach different
schools and there I am hanged on the walls. I have a surface on which writings,
made with chalk, are visible. Nowadays I am usually made up of wood or fiber. I
am painted black to reflect the white and other coloured chalks. I am always helpful
to teach in schools and colleges. But from a few years ago, people start using
white-boards instead of me due to their convenient use. Despite this, I am seen
to be beneficial in some schools till now. School teachers often use me to
display things at large, for I can make the learning process cooperative
between the teachers and the taught. In my life, I have seen so many students
grow in front of me. They have studied almost all the subjects through me and
moved on to a class ahead. I like it very much when the teacher calls the
students to me to solve Maths. problems. I keep wishing they will be able to do
so. Sometimes, the learners scribble on me behind the teachers’ back. They draw
cartoons and write slogans on me. During school hours, I am always with my
other friends viz. the chalks and the duster. I am cleaned after the school
hours with a wet cloth by the caretaker’s assistant. Undoubtedly, I am the most
important teaching equipment in the classroom. But I am severely shocked when
one day one of the class-teachers enters the classroom excitedly and proclaims
that they are going to turn the classrooms into smart classrooms. The new
electronic boards will be connected with internet. The chalk will be replaced
with a stylus and the duster will be a delete button. It means to me that
gradually I will be of no use. I will be taken off the walls. From then I begin
to think that my end is near. Still I look lovingly at the children and the
teachers. But one day I will have to tell them “Good-bye”! (±400 Words)
THE
END
