On top of the bureaucratic legacies of colonial rule, the Indian school teacher now faces new social and economic forces. (Illustration by C R Sasikumar)
It seems that teaching the young is no longer an attractive profession because systemic conditions are so discouraging. It points towards the reforms that education now requires
Written by Krishna Kumar
Updated: September 5, 2022 3:34:14 am
The newly elected panchayat of a village in Madhya Pradesh invited a retired teacher as the chief guest on Independence Day this year. Several members of the panchayat are his former students. The years he served the village school are remembered as a golden age. His name was once sent by the district office for consideration for a national award, but a higher official tossed it out. While the changes he had introduced were set aside after his retirement, his elementary-level students never forgot him. Nor did they forget what he had taught them through personal example: Dedication to your job. Had he accepted a promotion to a supervisory position two years before retirement, he would have been transferred from this village. By foregoing this promotion, he thereby voluntarily lost two increments which would have augmented his pension.
He was among the last teachers who enjoyed a career-track appointment and, therefore, a pension. Madhya Pradesh switched to new-age educational planning in the late 1990s. The governing philosophy from then onwards was committed to expanding enrollment and reducing the cost. The older, “dying cadre” — an official term — was replaced by young people whose aspiration to serve in schools would permanently compete with other emotions, including the fear of destitution. Political change did not disrupt the new policy trend.
This was a radicalised version of what was already happening in other states of the north. A new scenario was taking shape. Making children’s education cost-effective also meant encouraging budget schools set up by private players. They were local men with limited aims and vision. Some went on to start teacher training outfits. The clutter was well-documented by the late Justice J S Verma who chaired a commission appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the various pathologies of teacher education. Justice Verma submitted his report in 2013. It aroused great expectations, but they didn’t last long.
Soon after the celebration of this year’s special Independence day — marking the completion of 75 years of freedom — came heartrending news. The nine-year old boy, who was hit on the head by a private school teacher in Rajasthan, had died. Facts about his caste identity and the reason he was hit took time to emerge. His parents had taken him to several hospitals, but his injuries proved fatal. He had reportedly angered his upper caste teacher by trying to drink water from a vessel he was not supposed to touch. The accused teacher has denied this charge although he acknowledged hitting the boy. The Right To Education Act may have banned it, but corporal punishment remains a routine reality. How the accused in this case became a teacher requires little imagination. If you read Justice Verma’s report, you will realise that anyone can become a teacher.
No aerial snapshot can cover the millions of classrooms where teachers serve. Despite the limited resources available for engaged pedagogy, many teachers succeed in leaving an inspiring memory in their students’ hearts. But so deep is official suspicion of their integrity that many states have installed CCTV cameras in classrooms. That is not the only form of insult teachers face. They have little power to assert their professional dignity in the face of bureaucratic or managerial authority. Teaching children is not regarded as a serious profession. Non-teaching duties are routinely assigned, and now the digital regime has washed away the few traces of professional autonomy even in the best of private schools.
Three weeks separate Independence Day from the day that reminds society that teachers should matter. The celebration of this day takes different forms. Sentimental routines are common. In many schools, teachers take off on a picnic, leaving senior students to manage junior classes. Others hold special morning assemblies to recall the life of President S Radhakrishnan — whose birthday is marked as Teacher’s Day. A typical item in these assemblies is a rendition of Kabir’s couplet pointing to a guru’s spiritual role. The atmosphere in teacher training institutions is equally ritualistic, featuring posters, greeting cards and rangoli on the floor. Festive events disallow reflection or expression of what’s actually going on in the teacher’s lives and minds.
On top of the bureaucratic legacies of colonial rule, the Indian school teacher now faces new social and economic forces. Coaching institutions have marginalised the secondary-level science teacher. All over the country, children are allowed to bunk school to attend NEET and JEE coaching classes. Science and math teachers were, in any case, aware that their pedagogic effectiveness would be measured by an unreformed examination system. The pressure to use technological resources is now pushing the teacher to surrender to pre-designed pedagogic practices. Social science teachers are coping with a different kind of challenge — to justify their knowledge and interpretation. Children’s access to the internet exposes them to a wilderness of sociopolitical ideas and information. It is not easy for social science teachers to convince children that they are more reliable than a YouTube video or a WhatsApp message.
The ethos that surrounds education today makes it easy to forget that teaching is essentially a relational activity. No matter at which level someone is teaching — from kindergarten to college — it is the ability to relate to the class that distinguishes good pedagogy from its poorer variant. The impact some teachers make lasts lifelong. And even in many cases, the teacher is not remembered, the residue of how we learnt a subject in his or her class remains. It becomes a part of how we think. People who argue that because good teachers are few technological substitutes are necessary, don’t appreciate the bond that teachers alone can create. The question to contemplate, therefore, is why so many teachers fail to establish a bond. It seems that teaching the young is no longer an attractive profession because systemic conditions are so discouraging. Even if this is a partial truth, it points towards the kinds of salvaging and reforms that education now requires.
The writer is former Director of NCERT. His forthcoming book is Thank You, Gandhi
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