Recently, when judges, doctors and engineers asked the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, for salaries comparable to those of teachers in the country, she replied, “How can I compare you to those who taught you?”
It was, indeed, a powerful and profound statement. No one can disagree with it.
However, in India, neither a leader nor a layperson can vouch for the same. Teaching is considered a noble profession, but the reality is different. There is a stark difference in perception towards teaching in schools and teaching in colleges and universities. The latter is still seen as a respectable and proud worthy career choice but not the former one. Teaching, especially in school set up, is not the first choice as a career option for most of the individuals.
The Present Status
From a private portal, the average salary for a school teacher was calculated around to be Rs. 16,820 a month, though the government teaching jobs have more to offer. As compared to other countries like Germany, where the average annual salary is Rs. 33.18 lakhs, in India, it is around 2.01 lakhs. Inadequate monetary compensation is the biggest hindrance for teaching to become the first choice as a profession. Also, the salary is disproportionate to the kind of responsibilities they are endowed with.
However, a job’s value is not only measured by the remuneration. The social status of the profession, the entry procedure and the training (both pre-service and in-service) play a huge role in building the worth of the profession. Doctors are the most valued ones since their contribution to society is immense. Teaching is also considered to be of significant social value in thoughts and words, but reality speaks for otherwise. The role is majorly played by the performance of the current teachers, the attitude of parents and perspective of the society as a whole. Most of the children in early stages of school want to be teachers or at least emulate their class teachers, however by the end of the schooling years, hardly are there any students who wishfully want to become a school teacher. It usually becomes the fall back career option for the students.
The reasons for the above are also the ease of entry and almost no training for the service. The coveted professions like civil servants, doctors, actuarial scientists have a challenging entry point. The entrance exams are extremely competitive and demand investment of time and efforts from the aspirants. The teachers, on the other hand, require a Bachelor’s of Education or Masters of Education degree along with a few government exams to be cleared. These degrees are not considered of much value since they are comparatively easy to obtain and usually taken up as a part-time engagement. There are no premier institutes which hold credibility and stature for aspirants to target for. Also, the training of the teachers in the institutes is highly inadequate concerning the curriculum, pedagogy, quality of trainers and infrastructure. The aspects of social-emotional learning, gender concerns, and practical use of technology are not delivered to the aspirants. The attendance ratio of both the teachers and the students is abysmal.
Well, this does not mean there is a dearth of good teachers. Some innumerable teachers have played a significantly important role in each of our lives, not the system, but the internal motivation drives most of these teachers. The argument in point is that the system fails to nurture great teachers or even incentivise the teachers to upgrade their skills.
The quality of teachers largely determines the effectiveness and efficiency of any education system. Indian education system struggles with hurdles at a lot of levels, from accessibility, affordability, and quality. A good cadre of teachers in the country would encourage parents, and students to realize the importance of education and its role in one’s life. Teachers are the most crucial aspect of building a great society. The government data up to 2015-16 estimated the primary and upper primary school teachers to be 20,37,649[1] in the country while secondary and higher secondary school teachers to be 2,66,212. The future of the country lies in their hands; if we want the future to be the best, we need to make sure these teachers are the best.
The Road Ahead
The need is to understand is that teachers are not the only a repository of academic knowledge but also mentors and facilitators for students to develop and grow holistically. Especially in the digital era, when information is just a click away, the role of teachers becomes to shape students’ personality, confidence, value system and life skills.
The system of teacher training and recruitment needs an overhaul. We need to build prominent institutions of teacher training, which are centres of excellent learning and teaching. Just like any other great institute of engineering or business administration, these institutions should provide quality education, competitive salary package in the best schools and produce leaders in the field of education. The teachers need to be trained in innovative pedagogy, classroom tactics, counselling. With the millennial in the classrooms, the traditional approach cannot work effectively. Internet and social media have made students exposed to the world way earlier than their age demands. The issues and complications in the classrooms are more nuanced and varied than they were in the past. Teachers need to be sensitized and skilled to handle such situations.
The system needs to incentivize teachers to employ the best of the practices and methods to deal with not only the academic topics but also the behavioural issues. In-service teacher training from time to time needs to be encouraged and promoted in terms of appraisal and promotion. Further, teachers need to be seen as social leaders and be appreciated for their role in society. There need to be channels and mediums to recognize teachers and their efforts at different districts and state level. Such little initiatives would gradually help to teach as a profession to regain value and respect. The Scandinavian countries have performed exceptionally well in the education system parameters. Their practices can be studied and remodelled according to Indian cultural and social set up.
We are the ancient land of the Gurukul system wherein the teacher was the most revered person in a person’s life. They prepared students for the various stages of life with practical skills and holistic development. The policymakers and educationists need to go back to the roots, pick up the pearls of wisdom and use them to build the systems that are relevant to the present times. Further, society as a whole needs to review its perspective towards teaching as a profession to enable young minds to emulate their teachers.
The classrooms are preparing the workforce and society for the next three-four decades. If teachers are not ahead of time, we already are preparing for lagging behind the world in the future to come.
[1] Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Statistical Year Book, India 2015, Retrieved from http://mospi.nic.in/number-teachers-educational-institutions-all-india-and-state-wise-2