Teachers directly support the development of society
A teacher is someone who nourishes the souls of the students for a lifetime.
By Dr. Ashaq Hussain
The second president of the country, Dr. Radha Krishnan, whose birthday is celebrated all over the country as Teachers’ Day, once said that teachers are the best minds in the nation and their invaluable services would help it immensely. They impart intellectual and technical skills to his students and do not allow the lamp of civilization to dim. They not only guide their students, but also fix the fate of the country and the nation.
Developmental milestones are linked to education and no one can deny the role of teachers in education, probably the highest number of people work in the field of teaching and in civilized and developed societies, teachers are respected and valued at the highest level in the society.
If one has to write an article on “Developed nations of the world” and, in it, if the person mentions his/her views and ideas about the teacher or the role of teacher, then definitely a teacher finds himself at the highest place. The developed nations have learned the art of development by giving teachers privileges and freedom. They know that only a teacher can engrave the imprints of knowledge in the minds of the students, which will distinguish them in the society with intellectual and spiritual energy throughout their lives.
However, contrary to this, the education sector in India has always been the focus of the interests of politicians; in fact, these people have nothing to do with knowledge and education. As a result, in policy and other matters, decisions are made in such a way that to this day, education policy has not been uniform. And it is against this backdrop that the appropriate treatment of teachers and the existing disciplinary laws have left teachers mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally unstable.
Every year on September 5, Teachers’ Day is celebrated all over the country. Now, if I talk a little bit about Teachers’ Day and the treatment of teachers in India, it will certainly become clear as to what are the reasons for India’s inability to develop with a faster pace. India is one of those countries that take more from its teachers than to teach the children of the nation. If there is a census, then there will be a teacher model bazaar. When the election comes, the teacher is assigned the duty, if there is any survey, the teacher will go from house to house and in return for all this, what do they get except humiliation? Don’t hold back. There is much more than this, I just cited a simple and common example.
The purpose of celebrating Teacher’s Day was to greet teachers from all over the country and to highlight their place in the society. Alexander the Great said: “My parents brought me down to earth and my teacher took me to the heights of heaven.” If you see any successful person in the world today, there is a teacher behind this successful person who has shown his student the way to success. In my opinion, there are two types of teachers, one is the teacher of education and the other is the teacher of life. On this Teachers’ Day, I salute these two types of teachers.
A teacher instills in his students such an enthusiasm that he climbs every step of life without fear and finds his destination. In this world, only teacher and father are the two personalities who want their son and disciple to go beyond them. If you are the Prime Minister, President, Minister or any top officer of any country today, then behind this success it is the hard work of your teachers. Given this reality, I fail to understand as to why those in power don’t think of welfare of teachers?
On Teachers’ Day, a pledge is made in the developed countries that policies will be formulated to enhance the respect and dignity of the teachers and in developing countries like ours, there is no pledge but a reality that every effort is made to humiliate the teachers. If you ask the students to take part in cleaning activities of the school, people will blame the teachers by calling the activities as unfair. During my school days, I myself used to take part in the cleaning campaigns at the school as on the one hand, it ensured cleanliness of my study place, and on the other hand, it was an activity that would instil a sense of teamwork among students and help them remain mindful of their environment.
The need of the hour is to impose an educational emergency in the whole country and restore the dignity of the architects of the nation. We have to abolish the outdated policies regarding teachers and propose new ones, a system, where we will again respect our teachers and make education more impactful in the country. Teachers should be provided interest-free loans, their salaries, house rent, medical allowance should be significantly increased so that teachers can be free from worries of livelihood and be able to discharge their responsibilities efficiently. They should be supported in every possible way during their employment, they should be co-operated with, they should be guided, their working conditions should be made satisfactory, their good performance should be appreciated and the procedure for assessing their performance should made clear and transparent. In matters of retirement, the teachers should be spared the trouble that they face at different official levels.
I conclude with the acknowledgment that words are not enough to describe the importance of teachers in the society.
Happy Teachers Day!
The author is Assistant Professor Chemistry at Govt. Degree College Chatroo, Jammu and Kashmir and can be reached at [email protected]
