Amid all the exam anxiety, my ever-wandering thoughts rested on school. The initial excitement about leaving school, about never having to get up early or wear that wretched uniform turned to nausea when I realised that I’d actually miss school, miss having to get up early and miss my uniform. For the past 12 years of my life, school has been my second home and all the students and teachers have been like family.

I know I won’t miss my school friends all that much because I’m certain that we will keep in touch, but I will miss all my teachers. I’m no teacher’s pet – it’s just that my conception of a teacher has changed over the past few months as I near the end of my school life.

Like every student, I used to think that a teacher is someone who constantly nags us and tries to embarrass us by asking questions we don’t know the answers to. We tend to take our teachers for granted, not realising that they can influence our lives in many more ways than we can imagine. Often we ridicule and disrespect our teachers, but they remain patient and continue to guide and support us.

I understand now that every single one of my teachers has taught me something about life through all the boring lessons. My English teacher taught me that everything has a deeper meaning to it; in Economics I learnt that nothing in life comes free. Accountancy taught me that there should be a balance between good and evil and Maths showed me that there isn’t just one way to solve a problem.

From kindergarten, teachers do their best to inculcate in us manners – even if it’s just saying thank you, I’m sorry or excuse me.

They’ve nurtured us from hooligans into the righteous youth we are today.

So on behalf of all the aspiring doctors, lawyers, artists, engineers and journalists (like myself) out there, I’d like to thank all the teachers for their guidance, inspiration and blessings and for their efforts in making the world a better place.

Sanah Chauhan, age 18