(International Teachers Day)
By Abid Hussain Rather
A teacher is the main agent responsible for producing and bringing forth a generation
on which the future of a nation depends. In other words, as more often it is said,teachersarethe nation builders. Their experience and observations play a pivotal role in the personalitydevelopment of individuals, creation of a normative society and reformation and developmentof a progressive nation. They are highly respected and revered for their endeavours and effortsin building a progressive and evil free nation. But unfortunately from the last many decades,due to the downfall in moral and cultural values and degradation in ethical standards of humansocieties, teachers havelost their respect and the honour they deserve from our society. As 5th October is beingobserved as International Teachers Day across the globe; on this specialday try to find out the various reasons for the declining status of teachers insociety. There are various reasons for this changing tendency of society towards teachers but the basicimpetus of this disrespect and degraded status is that our teachers no longerpossess the qualities of anideal teacher. I believe that even if today a teacher isable to develop such characteristics inhimself which this noble profession demands, hewill be still respected, revered and honouredin society.
The declining status of teachers in society is due to their inferiority complex towards
their profession. If not all, but maximum teachers especially those working at primary levelhave fallen in the trap of inferiority complex and they assume their profession inferior to other professions. Most teachers in our schools are not teachers by choice butby chance otherwise maximum of them aspire to be doctors, engineers or KAS officers. But when they fail to achievetheir goals they unwillingly choose to be teachers. Likewise, maximum teachers in our privateschools take teaching as their secondary activity while their main focus remains on crackingsome competitive examination to brighten their career as they don find their future secure atprivate schools where they are being paid below their expectations and are, rather, exploitedthere. Human resources should have three attributes to be propitious,beneficial andefficacious for society. A teacher needs to develop all the three characteristics qualities toregain his dignity and to be beneficial for society. Thefirst attribute is knowledge. Irrespectiveof the profession, a person needs to develop andexplore vast knowledge of his field to acquireexcellency in his profession. A personshould never stop learning and he should dynamically getacquired with the newarenas and latest trends of his field to get mastery over his profession.Likewise a teacher should himself never stop learning. In fact his learning is directly beneficial.
for his pupil and a knowledgeable teacher is always respected his students. As the world isprogressing swiftly and we are flooded with oceanic information. Acquiring maximum
information from modern resources should be among top priorities of a teacher. But our
practical experiences disappoint us when we have a look around ourselves to find maximumteacher fond of comfy cozy life. Instead of making their pupil aware about the new trends andnew information, maximum teachers remain stuck to traditional ways of teaching and simplyprovide bookish knowledge to their students. Teachers need to always upgrade theirknowledge and acquaint their students with current affairs and new information.The second important factor is expertise or training. A teacher might have enoughknowledge of his subject but he may not have expertise/training to deliver his knowledge butwe can think of an ideal teacher without expertise in his field. A teacherplays an importantrole in the personality development of his students and socialreformation. So he must be wellaware about the students psychology, parentsproblems, changing educational trends andvariable social paradigms. A teachermust not adhere to chalk and talk method, so that he maycome toclassroom, start writing answers on the board to make his pupil copy those answersand finally assign his students daily homework to fulfil his duty. Rather a teachershould haveoptimum expertise to transfer knowledge to his students, make his lecture interesting anddeliver new information to his students to make his teaching effective and useful. If onemethod is not working, he should shift to another one to make his lecture simple and easy. AsTalcott Parsons, an American psychologist, has said; there are 52 ( which actually means a lot of) ways to explain a problem, if you can convince your student with one, youshould shift toanother. A teacher should have the skill of harmony and compatibility. He should co-operate,collaborate and harmonise with parents for betterment of the students. Insteadofmakingparents responsible for their wards weaknesses, ateacher should assist and work togetherwith parents for betterment and developmentof students. This is one of the best ways for ateacher to regain the dignity and honour in the society.
The third and important attribute is attitude of a teacher. If a teacher will be
sympathetic, generous and benevolent towards students, parents and society,undoubtedly hewill be honoured and respected in the society. It has been observed that some teachers behaviour towards their students is not satisfactory and acceptable. They insult and mockstudents for their little mistakes and discourage them with their fulsome, ugly and inappropriate words which ultimately incubates hatred and disrespect for teachers intheirhearts. Instead, a teacher should always use positive reinforcements to encourage his students.Dr Zakir Hussain, a great educationist , former president of India and former VC of JamiaMilia Islamia says that a teacher must possess three characteristics to achieve a good status insociety. Firstly, his words should always be sweet and encouraging. He should alwaysencourage his students by his words. Secondly, He should have an examplary character. Hislifestyle should be humble, disciplined, polite, reasonable and civilised. As students usuallyfollow every action of their teacher, a teacher should be the best role model for his students.Thirdly, a teacher has to be very careful in his attire. A person is always recognised by his attireso a teacher should always follow a dress code which suits his personality. A teacher shouldalways wear a proper and formal dress. He should avoid wearing which doesn suit hispersonality. A teacher can attain a respectable and honourable status in society by taking careof these three traits. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) has said that I have been sent as aninstructor teacher to teach you the ways of living. So a teachers profession is a propheticprofession. A teacher should honestly devote himself to his profession. He should always keepintrospecting to keep his conscience awake and aware about his duties. As long as a teacher willhonestly and passionately perform his duties and fulfil the sine qua nons which this nobleprofession demands, he will be respected andhonoured in the society.
The author can be reached at rather1294@gmail.com