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Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world, says Malala Yousafzai, who as a 15-year-old, almost never completed her schooling. The emphasis on education and more so the teacher can never be underestimated. Let’s take a look at some people who say it was a teacher who made the difference.
A coin to collect
Ramakant Achrekar placed a one-rupee coin on the stumps. The bowler who got the batsman dismissed would “win” the coin. If the batsman survived the session, then he would “win” the coin. In all, the little boy won 13 coins. This was none other than Sachin Tendulkar. His most prized possession? The 13 one-rupee coins.Tendulkar talks of a time when his coach told him to play for the B team at school. Instead of batting, he sat in the gallery and cheered his schoolmates. That evening, Achrekar asked him how many runs he had scored. Tendulkar told him he had been cheering his team on and never did get down to batting. The reprimand he earned would last him a life time. In the end he was told, “don’t just clap for others, play for yourself and concentrate on your batting”. This incident he says changed his life forever.

Spoken aloud
You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I’ll rise,” wrote Maya Angelou, powerful poet and civil rights activist. Cut back to her younger days and you will see a life of torment and darkness…one, so severe that it stole her voice. The physical and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of a family member caused her to become mute.Bertha Flowers, a teacher and family friend brought Angelou out of the depths of her agony by introducing her to the works of Dickens, Frances Harper, Anne Spencer, Shakespeare, Poe and others of their ilk. These writers influenced her personal and professional philosophies.

Winner
Google “Bill Gates” and you come up with a Wikipedia page that begins “William Henry Gates III KBE is an American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian, and principal founder of Microsoft Corporation.”But, what few people know is that he was an introvert and would have remained that way had it not been for his librarian when he was in Seattle’s View Ridge Elementary, in fourth-grade. Blanche Caffiere it was, who changed his world forever. In his blog he writes: “When I first met Mrs. Caffiere, she was the elegant and engaging school librarian at Seattle’s View Ridge Elementary, and I was a timid fourth grader. I was desperately trying to go unnoticed, because I had some big deficits, like atrocious handwriting … and I was trying to hide the fact that I liked to read—something that was cool for girls but not for boys … Mrs. Caffiere took me under her wing and helped make it okay for me to be a messy, nerdy boy who was reading lots of books.”

Let’s talk
Today, Emily Blunt is a Golden Globe nominee and successful stage actress. But from seven to 14 she had a terrible stutter…one so terrible that she could not hold a proper conversation. In an interview she said, “I was a smart kid and had a lot to say, but I just couldn’t say it. I never thought I’d be able to sit and talk to someone like I’m talking to you right now.” The thanks for this would go to her junior high teacher who helped her overcome her fear of speaking by encouraging her to try out for the school play. At first, Blunt refused. But, the teacher persisted. She coaxed her into taking acting lessons and experimenting with different accents and character voices to express herself. Now, she is not only a successful actor, but also a member of the board of directors for the American Institute for Stuttering.

Leading stars
Sometimes, you find your teachers closer home. When Indra (Nooyi)and Chandrika (Tandon) were growing up, their mother would assign them a task each at the dinner table. They had to write a speech about what they would do if they were a president or a chief minister or a prime minister. Every day would be a different world leader. When dinner was done, they had to give a speech and she would decide who to vote for. Maybe it was a fun end-of-day activity, or may be it was serious. But, it turned out to be formative, for it taught the girls to dream big, and gave them the confidence to become whoever they wanted. Chandrika became a partner at McKinsey, then a bank turnaround consultant and then a Grammy nominated musician. Nooyi rose to the top of the American multinational giant PepsiCo.