I devote a column to my fellow teachers at this time as October 5 is celebrated as World Teachers’ Day. My tribute to school teachers this year should serve towards making them aware of the power they hold and the strong — but alas, sometimes damaging — influence they have on young minds and therefore indirectly on the future. The long-term effects are perhaps the same as what parents have on children and certainly much deeper than what political leaders have on citizens. Sometimes I wonder whether it is a good or bad thing that teachers don’t quite realise how immeasurably powerful they are.
Teachers’ Day cards contain many truths. We don’t pause to think about them as these cards are mass-produced annually. Here are some familiar Teachers’ Day offerings: “A teacher touches eternity”; “the influence of a good teacher can never be erased” (I would include ‘a bad teacher’ as well); “teaching is the profession that teaches
other professions”; “a good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination and instil a love of learning” … and thus it goes on. Ironically, only a few teachers genuinely believe these sayings; they just enjoy reading them each year.
I remember something that Professor Krishna Kumar said to his audience at a Peaceworks conference. As speeches were being delivered on the teaching and
the reading of history, a teacher rose to proclaim emphatically that it was impossible to teach history in the ways that were being recommended because of the vast syllabus that teachers are expected to cover in their class. Kumar’s response has stayed with me. He responded with surprise, “Why don’t you teachers get the Board to change the curriculum? You teachers must make your voices heard,” or words to that effect.
Teachers, I believe, should be active participants in all policymaking that applies to school education. They are the ones who are actually in the field. So they would get to know the gaps and the practical difficulties and thus understand the kind of reforms required from time to time in our education system and assessment modes. We realise that the need to update with greater frequency has become urgent. Past reforms have shown that State officials and higher education academics are not equipped to handle this task on their own.
Political, financial and other pragmatic concerns enjoy top priority in the deliberations of government officials and Board representatives, and these factors tend to shape their ultimate rulings. Teachers should be aware of their own importance and must not limit their activism to pay scales. They need to be genuinely concerned about the nature of their work and what they are expected to deliver.
Has the teacher’s power in the classroom been curtailed? It has been observed that teachers keep complaining that their ability to speak freely and discipline their students as they wish is now restricted. Parents have become oversensitive and school authorities are careful to avoid trouble and to pre-empt negative publicity. But teachers must realise that the classroom is their kingdom and the floor therein is their stage where they must be powerful actors. The students’ impressionable minds absorb ideas like a sponge. When they are older, they will remind teachers of what they remember of their lessons years ago. No wonder, political leaders go all out to capture young minds by monitoring textbook content and designing the curriculum. In politically sensitive times, schoolteachers and college professors are arrested for ‘sedition’ when the ruling dispensation feels threatened.
Teachers must know that their hour has arrived — not only because they are in short supply but also because they are indispensable, notwithstanding AI. Their work is certainly not just ‘to cover the syllabus’ or to prepare students for exams and their purpose is definitely not to indoctrinate. They exist to counter propaganda, promote learning, develop thinking and imaginative minds, instil strong values and build worthy citizens of India and the world.
We teachers must wisely use the sweet power that we possess.
Devi Kar is director, Modern High School for Girls, Calcutta