Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Where are the teachers?

Why is teaching not revered any more?


It’s that time of the year when students pass out with flying colours and all the toppers parrot the same ambition — to become a doctor or engineer and serve the public. But what about teaching? Why don’t we hear of young people wanting to become teachers? Has the profession lost the respect it once enjoyed?

The answer, unfortunately, is yes. This is because teachers are still not paid well. Their remuneration is not at all commensurate with the hikes in student fees. Also, they have several ‘targets’ to achieve: complete this much of the syllabus in one trimester; conduct a prescribed amount of practicals/projects; make proper assessments to judge a student’s learning curve, analyse the data — and all these sans any professional development!

Today, multi-tasking is everything. In days past, teachers could teach basic grammar and arithmetic besides moral values. But today’s environment demands that a teacher play more roles — he or she has to be a role model, a counsellor, a parent figure, a judge, and all of these in a friendly way. Who would want to do all this for a minimal pay?


Worldwide, there is a shortage of well-trained teachers. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), to achieve universal primary education by 2030, the demand for teachers is expected to rise to 25.8 million; India alone needs 3 million. In a rush to fill this gap, many developing countries, including ours, are lowering standards, often leaving new teachers with little or no training. As such, the talent pool in this noble profession seems to be of low quality.

Have you seen any coaching institutes for B.Ed or D.Ed aspirants? Most of those who take up teaching do so only because they haven’t been able to land other suitable, high-paying jobs. So, mediocrity seems to be ok, and this is all too evident if you were to visit a rural school.
 Though policy guidelines such as the National Curriculum Framework 2005, NCF for Teacher Education 2009, Right to Education Act 2009, and the HR Ministry's revised Centrally-Sponsored Scheme for Teacher Education (launched in 2012 with an outlay of Rs 63 billion) paint a commendable vision of transforming the elementary education system, no system can rise above the quality of its teachers.

While considerable energy has been channelled into bringing about some of these changes through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mission-mode efforts alone are not enough. Major structural changes must be brought about in the teacher education system. The alarming state of teacher training in the country is reflected in the fact that the majority of graduates who appear for the Central Teacher Eligibility Test fail to demonstrate even the most basic knowledge expected from a teacher.


Notwithstanding these, there is poor parental support. Instead of being a tad strict with their children, parents often blame teachers. Raise your voice and get yourself stabbed or shot dead by the student as it happened a while back in one of the Chennai schools.


So many governments have come and gone, yet precious little has been done for education reform. Serious steps should be taken to make teaching a sought-after profession, and to improve the hiring process. There should be an eligibility test for teachers and a continuous evaluation system besides performance-based incentives and hikes. Only if these are implemented properly, with the right rigour, can we usher in achche din among the younger minds.

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