Recently a social media post purportedly of Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai visiting his teacher in Mysuru went viral. It emerged later that the personality in the video was IC3 Institute Founder Ganesh Kohli visiting his maths teacher Molly Abraham. Ganesh Kohli is a teacher and counselor who has founded, nurtured and led multiple education-focused organizations over the past 23 years.
Ganesh founded the IC3 Movement in 2016 to help build a platform providing focus on career and college counselling within schools. The IC3 Movement attracts leaders from over 1,400 universities and 3,900 schools spanning 320 cities and 42 countries.
On Teachers' Day, Ganesh Kohli talks to Manorama about 'Molly Teacher', his inspiration.
Tell us about your bonding with Molly teacher?
Molly teacher is originally from Kuravilangad in Kottayam district in Kerala but now lives in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Earlier she was in Mysuru.
I first met Molly Abraham at SCDB High school in DN Nagar, Andheri (West), Mumbai, in 1988. I was 12 years old and studying in the 7th grade. Molly teacher taught me Mathematics with a lot of love and compassion. Although I was a very weak student, she provided unconditional love and due to her efforts, I became an excellent student of Mathematics. Her encouragement also made me excel in other subjects (which I was doing poorly in). Subsequently, I went on to study engineering and then became a Math teacher myself.
As early as class 9, I wanted to become like Molly teacher.
The most striking aspect of Molly teacher was her love for teaching and her patience. She always had a smile and was not strict at all. She enjoyed every moment of her time in class.
The video was published 3 years ago, but went viral now after some hoax messages. How did that happen?
In August 2016 at the Annual IC3 Conference, I had talked about Molly teacher. In fact, I have been speaking about Molly teacher for more than 20 years. However, just before the 2017 Annual IC3 Conference, some of our colleagues suggested that we invite Molly teacher to Delhi for the conference. I began to look for Molly teacher (I had been unable to find her details for many years) and somehow got her phone number. When I called her, I learned that she had been unwell and would not be able to travel to Delhi. So I decided to go to Mysuru (where she was living at that time) and record her message for the participants at the conference.
All my life, I had remembered Molly teacher and then finally got to meet her 26 years later.
After the video was screened at the Annual IC3 Conference in August 2017, it was uploaded on IC3 Movement’s YouTube channel on September 1, 2017, with the title “Molly Teacher”.
The goal was to highlight the importance of teachers such as Molly Abraham and the impact that they have on young lives. When it was launched in 2017, it did become very popular. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, many more people began watching the video and it started circulating on many WhatsApp groups.
It was then uploaded and incorrectly attributed to some known personalities (like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella) by YouTube channels in Tamil Nadu and other southern states. Simultaneously, a few other channels also uploaded it to get traffic on their own channels.
We, unfortunately, had no control over this and took the best actions we could to clarify and highlight that the video belongs to IC3 Movement. In fact, the original video clearly shows in the first few seconds that it is Ganesh Kohli, not Satya Nadella or Sundar Pichai.
In some cases, people also felt that my face looked similar to these other personalities. I realised that once things begin to go viral, it is very difficult to control the “misinformation”.
Thankfully, some fact-checking publications and websites helped us after we sent them a message. We also clarified on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as soon as we noticed the mis-attribution.
What is your thought after the video went viral with a wrong attribution?
Initially, I was very disappointed about this and had to spend countless hours clarifying and answering messages from friends. I also realised how frightening the world of social media and WhatsApp can be, where information can circulate and is believed without any fact-checking.
However, I always believed that the characters in the video are not important, it is the message of the student-teacher bonding that is most important. Teachers have tremendous power to shape our society and as a society, we must respect our teachers and give them greater recognition.
The video was made in honour of all teachers and to specifically recognise Molly teacher. Even when the video is misattributed, people have appreciated the emotion behind the video and the student-teacher bonding that it highlights.
In 2018, at the Annual IC3 Conference, we instituted an award called “Molly Abraham Life Time Achievement Award” for exceptional contributions to career and college counselling.
I have been in touch with Molly teacher at regular intervals since August 2017. She was very happy after the video went viral. She received many calls and good wishes.
What is your message to the students in this Teachers' Day?
My message for students is to seriously consider “teaching and career counselling” as a profession. This is one of the most powerful professions on the planet. Most of us do not remember the doctors we visited in class 7 or 8 but we remember the teachers we met in class 7 or 8. Teachers are “soul doctors” that have an impact on lives for 60 years and more. Our society needs to respect our teachers much more.
Teachers will create doctors, pilots, accountants, engineers. They are nation builders and can help change the world. Let us all honour this profession.
And finally, just remember to say “thank you” to all your teachers and parents. Everyone who gives us any lessons in life needs to be acknowledged and respected.
