NCERT Chapter Summary: Where Do All the Teachers Go?

NCERT Chapter Summary: Where Do All the Teachers Go?

Teachers are very special for their students. The poet does not think that his teachers are ordinary people. The poet wonders where his teachers go after 4 o’clock. He keeps asking too many questions such as whether the teachers live in their houses, wash their socks like an ordinary person.

The poet wonders, if the teachers wear pyjamas or something else. The poet is not sure whether his teachers watch TV like any ordinary person and clean their nose with the little finger. 

The poet wants to know if his teachers live with other people such as their mother and the father. The poet desires to know if these teachers were once children and were bad as kids. He wonders if his teachers were punished for making mistakes like writing wrong spellings and were ordered to stand in the corner as a punishment if they ate chocolates without permission. 

According to the poet, his teachers are perfect. He thinks that perhaps his teachers have never lost their hymn books and never spread cooked green vegetables’ like him. The poet wonders if his teachers have ever scribbled on the desks and wore dirty clothes. 

He fined a way to get his answer. He intends to follow one of his teachers to find out the truth. The poet will write about it later, so that the teachers could read it out to other children in a class.

Stanza 1

Where do all the teachers go
When it’s four o’ clocks? 
Do they live in houses
And do they wash their socks?
Do they wear pyjamas
And do they watch TV?
And do they pick their noses
The same as you and me.

Explanation: According to the poet, his teachers were not ordinary people. The poet asked many questions such as where his teachers go after 4 o’clock. He keeps asking whether the teachers live in their houses and wash their socks like an ordinary person. The poet wonders if the teachers wear pyjamas. The poet is not sure whether his teachers watch TV like any ordinary person and clean their nose with the little finger as other people do.

Stanza 2

Do they live with other people 
Have they mums and dads?
And were they ever children
And were they ever bad? 
Did they ever, never spell right
Did they ever made mistakes? 
Were they punished in the corner
If they pinched the chocolate flakes?

Explanation: The poet wants to know more about his teachers’ life and whether live with their mother and father. The poet wishes know if his teachers were once children and behaved like them. He wonders if his teachers were punished for making mistakes like writing wrong spellings and were ordered to stand in the corner as a punishment, if they ate chocolates without permission.

Stanza 3

Did they ever lose their hymn books
Did they ever leave their greens?
Did they scribble on the desk tops
Did they wear old dirty jeans? 
I’ll follow one back home today
I’ll find out what they do
Then I’ll put it in a poem
That they can read to you.

Explanation: According to the poet, his teachers are perfect. He thinks that perhaps his teachers have never lost their hymn books and never spread cooked green vegetables like him. The poet wonders if his teachers have ever scribbled on the desks and wore dirty jeans like other children. He was trying to find out all the answers. Finally, he finds a way to get his answers. He intends to follow one of his teachers to his home and find out the truth. The poet will write about it later, so that the teachers could read it out to other children in a class.