When I was still in junior school, I was lucky enough to be taught by an English teacher who made such a great impact on me that I have never lost my love for the language. One of my granddaughters has had the same good fortune with her biology teacher, another with a lady who teaches her mathematics. Indeed, many have had the experience of being taught at some point in their lives by at least one teacher who has inspired them. But these have been the lucky ones, the ones who went to ‘good’ schools where, despite the overcrowded classes and overloaded syllabi, there was still the chance of finding the odd inspirational teacher.

Unfortunately such a chance is unlikely in schools at the other end of the spectrum. The provision of incentives such as free midday meals may persuade poor children to stay the course in primary schools. However, research has shown that a far greater motivator in getting these children to complete primary school is a kind and welcoming teacher. With the right kind of teacher, the hunger for knowledge surpasses the hunger for food.

An item that appeared in the papers last week tells a depressing story. It speaks of 300 schoolchildren in a village in Andhra Pradesh who, for eight months, were ‘taught’ by a single teacher because the government had failed to appoint teachers to their zilla parishad high school. Nor, if this report is to be believed, is this school unique: there are at least 250 more schools in the same situation.

The efforts to promote universal literacy are both commendable and necessary. But equally essential is the need to recruit and train really good and dedicated teachers who will do more than make a child literate. Admittedly, to find them poses a problem. The general attitude is that only if you can do nothing else, do you become a school teacher, an attitude bred from the fact that school teachers, despite the raises awarded by the Pay Commission, still feel that they are badly paid. The result is that teachers, particularly in government schools, are bored and disinterested.

More and more, the poor are scrimping and saving to send their children to low cost private schools instead of government or municipal schools. At least the teachers there come to school! But how much do they learn? Very little at the end of the day.

Such children, and their parents, end up frustrated, helpless and with little respect for teachers. Gone sadly, where they are concerned, is the traditional reverence of the shishya for his guru. But one cannot blame them. At least, not until something is done to improve the quality of teachers in such schools.