Pratik is a Physics & Mathematics Teacher with extensive teaching experience in international schools and tutorial schools in curriculums such as AP, IB, MYP, IGCSE, HKDSE, and A-level. He has been a researcher and an engineer before turning to teaching in Hong Kong in 2010.

On becoming a teacher:

I have always taken on the role of a teacher since I was young.  I developed great patience over the years, patience for children who learn slowly and patience for children who do not yet even want to learn. As such, over the years, I realised that my true potential lies in teaching and something that I enjoy the most. Hong Kong provided me with the opportunity to start my career as a physics and mathematics teacher in an international school and since then there was no looking back.

Productive interaction plays a vital role in teaching. If there is an active communication between teacher and students, then it elevates the desire to learn more and helps push each other’s limits. So I must say that one thing that I enjoy the most about teaching is being able to interact with student not only from an academic point of view but also know their lifestyle and their extracurricular activities, which plays a huge role in their realising their academic goals. This in turn helps to encourage my students to think creatively, so that they can apply their learning in tangible ways in their lives.

Other interests that reflect on my personality as a teacher:

I am a very artistic person who besides teaching maths and science also keeps an active interest in painting, cooking, gardening and various sports. I prefer being involved in activities that can help me think out of the box. In addition, I am also very social and love indulging myself in discussing current affairs.

People I find admirable and inspirational:

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian-American astrophysicist who spent his professional life in the United States. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowler for "theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars". The most important reason I admire him is because of his humble background. He never attended primary school like most of us did which lays the basic foundation for any individual, yet he went on to pursue his career and be part of institutions such as Cambridge, University of Chicago, Harvard besides turning down several offers from Princeton University. 

Top tip to younger self:

If I can go back in time then I would surely tell myself to be more proactive and focus on what you do the best, and perhaps in which case I would end up being a chef and not a teacher, or a chef who would teach others how to cook.