With barely two semesters of engineering degree to his credit, Rufeen Ahmad, a young engineering student has already earned himself the fame of a successful Physics teacher. JUNAID NABI BAZAZ narrates the story.
Rufeen Ahmad Khan, 21, is jubilant. Fifteen out of his twenty students cracked All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) this year. An engineering student himself, he is in the first year of business of coaching for professional examinations and is quite satisfied because he has hit the right target.
“In these two years of teaching no student of mine has failed. In fact they have scored good marks while many are meritorious. Even my first group of students, when I had no experience of teaching brought100 percent result,” recounts Rufeen.
He started teaching Physics for eleventh and twelfth in 2010. “I started with just couple of students in 2010 and now the class comprises of more than hundred students,” Rufeen said. “I started with just one class but continued influx of students has forced me to take many.”
Encouraged by the outcome, he started coaching for the entrance examinations. More recently, he started teaching Mathematics to MCA (masters in computer application) students.
Rufeen says teaching has been his passion. Just two months after he was selected in J&K common entrance test (JKCET), he started teaching at home. “I was waiting for this moment to come. After qualifying JKCET when I was just thinking about it, a few students who were worried about their physics syllabus approached me.” Rufeen remembers. “And it just started.”
It is a different experience, says Rufeen. “What I found missing as a student and a part time teacher was that the strictly formal relationship between the teacher and the student has created so huge a gap that students feel embarrassed and shies away from asking questions. Unfortunately they are not encouraged to seek explanation to their queries as well.” He said he is trying his level best to bridge this gap.
But the motive for teaching, Rufeen claims, is solely not money. He claims his fundamental objective in teaching is to inculcate the sense of education among them and make them realise their hidden talents. “Teaching for me is like worship. I do not want to bamboozle my students. I want to serve them as a complete teacher. I not only try to clear their concepts but give direction to their aspirations,” believes young professor Rufeen.
This aptitude has earned him fame as a teacher. At his coaching centre, now quite popular among the students, he takes three classes besides four classes at his home. The hard work and busy schedule has not produced any negative impact on his studies. Instead he has remained topper during all the past semesters.
After passing tenth exams with 457 marks from Caset Experimental School, he studied science and maths and passed twelfth with 658 marks from SP higher secondary school. Currently Rufeen is pursuing his third semester of Civil engineering at SSM College.
With a belief that Kashmiri students have a bright future, Rufeen vouches for them for their capabilities and appetite for bringing laurels. “Students here have now become very much capable of taking any challenge and crack any examination. The only thing they need is proper counselling, planning and perseverance.
He credits his – passion becoming reality- to Almighty God, his parents, teachers and hard work. “You need two things to attain success. Spiritual and physical, to him, the former came from God and the later from overall efforts of teachers, parents and his own hard work. Had any one of the two factors not been there, the feat could not have been possible,” narrates Rufeen.
Rufeen claims that he would consider himself a successful teacher the day his students would crack IIT JEE exams. “Success is measured by results. And I would measure my successes by seeing my students cracking IIT JEE exams. I teach them with the aim of winning over this examination. I believe the day will come soon.” desires Rufeen.
