No one remembers the exact day they learned to read. But almost everyone remembers the teacher who taught them. That asymmetry, between the forgettable moment and the unforgettable person, tells us something essential about teaching. A teacher leaves behind something that cannot be easily measured: the confidence to try, the discipline to persist, the curiosity to ask, or sometimes simply the belief that one is capable of more. Thus, teaching cannot be classified as anything less than an art.
The National Awards to Teachers, conferred each year by the Hon’ble President of India, honour a chosen few whose contribution has risen above the rest. Nonetheless, in every corner of the country, in classrooms, skill labs, polytechnics, sports grounds, and music rooms, students find their own way to say thank you. A handwritten note. A moment of recognition in a morning assembly. A quiet acknowledgement that stays with a teacher long after the day is over. These are not lesser celebrations but, in many ways, the truest ones.
The data, however, tells us a parallel concerning story. OECD’s 2026 Teacher Knowledge Survey distinguishes between knowing a subject and the ability to teach it. Its findings posit that subject knowledge does not always translate into effective pedagogy. The point is simple but important: knowing something deeply and knowing how to help another person learn it are not the same skill. Teaching is an art, requiring an understanding of human connections, pedagogy and some theatrics for the classroom.
The UNESCO Global Report on Teachers, 2024, places a hard number on what neglecting this profession costs. The world needs 44 million additional primary and secondary teachers by 2030, and over half are needed simply to replace those already leaving. Meanwhile, the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that between 75 million and 375 million workers globally will need to switch occupational categories by 2030 due to automation. In such a scenario, the value of competent teachers is more than ever.
India has acknowledged this challenge and is responding with intent. The four-year Integrated Teacher Education Program, launched in consonance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, integrates subject mastery and pedagogy into a single undergraduate degree, attracting the best minds into teaching by design. To ensure congruent standards amongst the in-service teachers, the National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) tie career advancement to demonstrated teaching quality rather than mere seniority. To benefit from cross-sectoral learning, the National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) provides structured support to teachers to learn from mentors from various fields. I, too, have registered as a mentor for this mission. The Hon’ble Prime Minister meets every year with National Award winners not merely to congratulate but to listen, to know their stories from the ground, and to offer the perspective that only leadership experience can provide. Teaching is a creative act, and cross-learning across fields helps renew this creativity.
India is also expanding who counts as a teacher, and that is perhaps the most novel idea of all. Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society (ULLAS), the New India Literacy Program, is built on the principle that anyone who is literate can teach someone who is not. As we celebrate International Literacy Day this year, nine states and union territories have been declared fully literate under this program. This spirit is further embodied in the Vidyanjali portal of the Ministry of Education. It connects over 8.75 lakh government schools to volunteers who bring their expertise, whether in dance, mathematics, public speaking, or craft, into classrooms as a gift. Every one of them acts as a teacher. Every subject they bring is valued equally. Because at its core, teaching is not a technical function but a craft. Every lesson plan is a composition. Every explanation is a performance.
An artform does not distinguish between the artists and thus any hierarchy that we carry in our heads must be examined and dismantled. Sometimes, the music teacher or the PE teacher is considered supplementary and the vocational trainer, a fallback. This classification is not just unfair but completely wrong. When examination pressure mounts, music or exercise may restore calm, which aids preparation. With India’s growing orange economy, multiple art forms shall prepare students for one of the fastest-growing sectors of the modern world. As sports universities take shape and supplement national athletic infrastructure, the sports coach and PE teacher will open gateways to authentic career pathways. The ITI trainer teaching precision manufacturing is crafting skills that help construct bridges and strengthen hospitals. That is nation-building in another form.
In an age when machines are becoming capable of almost everything predictable, the irreplaceable act remains the human one: a teacher who sees potential in a student that the student cannot yet see in themselves. That act has no algorithm. It does not stop when the school bell rings. And it belongs to every teacher, in every subject, in every kind of institution across this country.
The Latin phrase sums it up aptly: Non scholae sed vitae discimus. We learn not for school, but for life.
And the teacher, the true artist of human possibility, is the person who makes that possible.
Courtesy PIB Srinagar
(The writer is Union Minister of State, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship)
