Teaching: is it not reverred job anymore??

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 the teachers? Why do we not see people wanting to be teachers? Has teaching lost its reverence? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Reasons: It’s a mediocre-paying profession. Their remuneration does not often commensurate with the rising fees. Also, they too have ‘targets’ to achieve: completing so much of syllabus in one trimester; conducting a prescribed amount of practicals/projects; making proper assessments to judge kids’ learning curve, analysing the data — all these sans any professional development! All the more important is his/her multi-tasking ability. In days of yore, teachers could teach basic grammar and arithmetic besides moral values. But today’s demanding education environment wants a teacher to play more roles other than just being a teacher — he/she has to be a role model, a counselor, a parent figure, a judge, etc… all that in a friendly way. So, who would want to do all these with a minimal payscale? A recent paper, jointly released by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, shows that more than 27 million teachers will be needed to achieve universal primary education by 2030 and India alone needs 3 million teachers by 2030. In a rush to fill this gap, many countries, including ours, are lowering standards, often leaving new teachers with little or no training. As such, the talent pool entering this noble profession seems to be of low quality. Have you seen any coaching institutes mushrooming up for B.Ed or D.Ed aspirants? Most of them who take up teaching do so only out of their inability to land other high-demanding/ suitable jobs. So, mediocrity seems to be OK, which will be evident if you move to rural schools. 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 there is little done to education reform. Serious steps should be taken to make teaching a sought-after profession, and to improve the hiring process of teachers. Let there be an eligibility test for teachers (irrespective of their degree) and a continual evaluation system besides a performance-based incentive/hike. Only if these are implemented properly with right vigour can we usher in achche din among the younger minds.

Farm genocide

What title do I give? Is it farmers'suicide? Or is it a genocide going by the alarming rise in the numbers?

Early last month, it was eight potato farmers in Bengal committing suicide. And now, it’s a Rajasthan farmer hanging himself from a tree at a political rally. Minutes after this, another grower from the same State ended his life by jumping before a speeding train.

While the media is at a frenzy reporting these showing close-up images of deceased farmers, politicians are busy in the usual mudslinging. And soon the nation will want to know everything about farmers, reasons for their suicides and all that thus bringing their pitiable family on screen.

While the Delhi government/AAP is being criticised for not acting quick enough to stop the death, AAP suspects BJP’s conspiracy to sabotage its rally! And the fresh-from-sabbatical Rahul Gandhi says it all happened because of the ordinance that has been brought by BJP. And we have an union minister giving his pearl of wisdom to farmers about gods and governments!

And noone sees the farmers’ pov. Behind these suicides lies an explosive cocktail of natural and manmade factors – crop loss caused by erratic weather, deficient monsoon, depleting watertable, procurement woes, inefficient policies with respect to taxes, loans and the deadly tentacles of private moneylenders.

The mindset of most of the educated, urban population is even more appalling: so what, they get free electricity, water supply, waiver of loans and all that!! Yes, but are these packages doing enough to address the plight of farmers? And how many farmers have access to these ‘free’ power/water? Do these limited sops do anything for crop yield, farm inputs/loans, assured irrigation, developing cold storage, marketing/pricing facilities? Or how many of the farmers are aware of crop insurance??

It is high time the government tweaked its agri-trade policies and the farmers, instead of being provided with meaningless incentives or false assurances, were educated on alternative source of income such as dairy farming, poultry, fisheries, etc. 

As I key in this, my son is reading a couplet from the Tamil work Thirukkural which runs thus: 

Palakudai nizhalum thamkudaikeezh kaanbar alagudai nizhalavar. (The reign of many kingdoms comes under the reign of those with abundant grain).

I can only think of the 2010 movie Peepli Live and nod my head with a wry smile!

MRS

A pencil sketch attempt of BL's News Editor Mr M R Subramani :)

Iron Lady dies

Pill effect

Supreme court slamming Novartis regarding the patent of cancer drug Glivec... a caricature by me after a really lonnnnnnnnnnnnng time :)

Annoying ads

Axe:
Seems women from all over the world will follow you if you marinate in this perfume. Will Cameron Diaz come/ Will Angelina Jolie come seeking you? Atleast will your own lover come? Hmmm, hope we could have gifted one 2 Devdas so that Paro and he would have stayed happily ever after.
Lux: Seems you don't need any lights if you bathe in dis soap; provides your skin dat much glow. All Tamil Nadu households and industries too MUST use Lux and stop cursing Amma for unscheduled power cuts

Colgate: Does your toothpaste have salt content in it? So that we can abolish the phrase 'swwet-toothed' and coin a new phrase 'salt-toothed'!

Pommys Nighties: Dharidram pidicha vilambaram. Seems people will stop fighting if they see a lady clad in this brand of nighty. As if it was woven listening to Bahudaari raga that evokes calmness! Please send a pack of this stupid nighties to Iraq, Afghan, Indo-Pak border, etc...

All the sanitary napkins' ads: These will boost your confidence and let your dream take wings - like you can jump a fence for cricket match, you can win dancing competition, you can swim/ride a bike, you can sleep in whatever position you want... Oh plsssss - sanitary pads were not even heard of in the days of Capt Lakshmi Sahagal/Amelia Earhart/Rukmini Devi Arundale.

But, a few likes also: the UNICEF sponsored ad on anemia awareness among menstruating women. Applause for the ad coz most of those women get just plain rice wid a 'summar' curry and are treated like untouchables being given a separate plate/tumbler and no pillow, bla bla... Yes we need a good food & good sleep to enjoy the monthly boon bestowed to us women :)

Women women women....

Women women women....
In our pre-teens we have buds blossoming in blouses which when comes into contact with anything hurts really; in our teens we have a monthly visitor to welcome whom we stuff a mini mattress and suffer cramps; in our 20s we get married and a red-headed rod pokes us in places that we never knew we had; in our 30s we raise children (the constant pooping machines), juggle between office & work, try satiating the insatiables at both the places; in our 40s have a hell of time with our now-at-teens children; in our 50s suffer menopause and yell at everyone; in our 60s strive to get a good name as m-i-l!!
Wonder, even the AHIMSA MOORTHY Gandhiji will turn spiteful if he was a woman