ICG (MY IDENTITY)

It's about attending lectures one day and delivering them the next day. It's about being taught to ultimately taking up teaching. It's about switching roles without leaving the stage and growing up in the same educational institution of Islamabad: Islamabad College for Girls, fondly known as ICG. Not many people have had this opportunity that I had which is to be associated with this premier institution of Pakistan for 20 years. I first entered this college as a child of 5 years. I got admission in class 1 and progressing grade by grade finished my high school. I received my Bachelors and Masters degree as an ICGian. I found it difficult to believe that all those teachers who taught me in my academic life became my colleagues. I still respect my teachers as I did all those years as a student rather I adore them all the more because of the strong bond we have formed over the years. I got the opportunity to know my teachers professionally and now personally as well. Over the years, our bond has nurtured with love and care and I have watched it flourish into something truly extraordinary. With every shared moment, may our bond deepen, leaving an indelible mark on my life Like the roots of a mighty tree, may our bond grow deeper, providing stability and nourishment to our relationship. I believe that as a teacher, you don't teach a subject, you teach a child. My teachers taught me not from books but from their heart. I learnt the art of living and loving from them. My teachers taught me how to play with words and made me familiar with the different shades of life. I've learnt that life is just like a canvas on which we paint. We draw the lines with hope, erase the errors with tolerance and colour it with love. Teaching is like gardening. Being the gardener, my teachers have planted the seeds of knowledge and provided the best conditions to help me grow, prosper and reach greater heights by handling me with love and care. I have always idealized my teachers. If I turn into my teachers or even half the women that they are, I'll consider my life a successful one. This unique experience of shifting roles from a student to a teacher is rewarding me professionally. I am able to understand my students better. I can walk in their shoes and I make sure that they don't face the problems that I faced in my student life. It is not that ICG has not changed. It has, for the better in most cases. Scientific laboratories have been set up. Information Technology block and a separate block for the administrative, non teaching staff has been built. A separate block for BS students is there as well. So changes in the structure and building of the college are perceptible. When I was a student, not a long time back, it was unthinkable for me not to stand up or not to greet a teacher approaching me. I couldn't meet the eyes of my teachers out of respect and hesitation. Today students talk in a more frank manner having eye contact with their teacher with hands in their pockets. When I was a student, there used to be a very tough and healthy competition between me and my classmates about our marks in class tests and exams. ICG has treated me like a daughter and in its lap I have learnt a lot not only in academic terms but everything that goes into making a good human being. Here I gained self confidence and learnt how to adjust in order to make my mark. This institution has played a vital role in shaping my personality and has given me a chance to serve it as it has served me. All the credit goes to my honourable teachers who have enlightened my mind and soul and it is because of them that I started spreading the light of knowledge from ICG, a place which is as much a part of my identity as the name I bear.