Every year, the first day of the school started with the class teacher asking this question

” Who wants to be the Class leader this year? ”

Normally only a few hands go up and the class teacher picks one depending on his marks and behaviour. Little does the student know the aftermath of being the class leader. The election process was so simple – No chits, no throwing them in the fire and certainly not looking for smoke or something

So we have a class leader and an assistant class leader who will do his duties when the class leader is on leave or on duty.

Uncle Ben once said

” With great power comes great responsibility “

Some of the core responsibilities of a class leader are as follows

1. Look for the teacher in the staff room if she is not in class within ten minutes from the start time of the class ( She will normally start the moment you reach the staff room embarrassing you in the process )

2. If she is absent, identify the substitute teacher and remind her ( Read the above line in the braces again )

3. When there is no teacher – Mind the class ( More to this below)

4. Form a line and lead the line to the assembly, meetings and sometimes even the rest room ( Happens for real )

The worst part about leading the line is sometimes you won’t even know if there is noone behind you. You would walk proudly with finger on your lips for a considerable while before you find it out.

Now coming back to the third point – this deserves a lot of writing

You are the one who writes the names of the naughty kids on your otherwise empty rough note and give it to the teacher when she comes back. Sometimes you might even use the black board for the same. You hand over the names and get back to your place while the teacher reads the names one after the other asking them to stand and put out their hands for a hit. After everyone takes a hit, they throw a look at you which will make you feel so guilty. ( In simple words, you are the Chitra gupta of Yamalogam )

Crazy things about minding the class

• When we use the board, you tend to write the names as usual and whenever the offender pleads to you with his eyes or maintains silence for an extended period of time, you forgive him – take the duster and erase his name off the board. You are so proud like you saved a life of someone.

• You can do the same on your note book as well – but the offender has to wait until the teacher reads out the names with hearts panting and the sigh of relief when they realize you had scored out their names is priceless

• One other interesting aspect in minding is asking the offender to turn approver. This game is interesting and the last man standing will be the one who will be punished. It is the most favorite game of the teachers who want to maintain pin drop silence in the class while doing nothing. If you are experienced enough, you can conduct this cruelty – sorry game. The whole class will be silent and the first murmurer will have to find another murmurer for him to get back to safety

• While you mind them, they will manipulate you – e.g you write the name of the offender and he tells you that your best friend was the one who spoke first during silence and he asks you to write your best friend’s name as well. You have to write but before the teacher comes back –  you erase both the names saving your best friend. Sometimes the manipulators are very strong and united that they might make you write your own name if they find you chatting with the pretty girl in the class ( Yeah ! It goes a long way back )

True to what Uncle Ben said, it comes with a lot of responsibilities but the proud moment comes when you identify yourself in the group picture by the shiny badge on your tie –  its all worth it.

Dedicated to all the class leaders from the 90’s