Teachers : Nation Builders

“Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheswarah
Guru Saakshaat Para Brahma Tasmai Sri Guruve Namah"

Literally the word Guru translates to Teacher in English. But, in India, Guru is more than a teacher. In Sanskrit, "Guru" means the one who dispels the darkness and takes the student towards the light. Teachers and mentors hold a special place in every individual's life. The above verse gives a complete meaning of 'Guru'. Guru is the Lord Brahma because he/she creates the knowledge inside us. Guru is the Lord Vishnu because he/she preserves and operates the knowledge in our mind and leads us on to the right path. Guru is the Lord Shiva who destroys the wrong thoughts and transforms us with the right kind of knowledge. Guru is the live supreme God and we salute and bow to our teacher.

For every child next to mother and father, the teacher becomes the role model. In fact sometimes they believe or listen to teachers more than their parents. Every child's first role play is being a teacher. Almost every child aspires to become a teacher in their early years. All other aspirations come much later. This gives us a clear idea how much a teacher can create impact in a child's mind. When a child attains success apart from its parents, teachers are the ones who are most happy. They never envy upon their successful students. Teachers are always teachers. They are the ladders to bring up doctors, scientists, astronauts, journalists, chefs, sports personality and many more. Success of the students is considered as the success of the teachers. All over the world, parents drop their children at the school gates, dreaming about what they might accomplish after years of schooling. They entrust teachers with the duty of nurturing their child's educational development and their future path. In spite of the importance of teachers for every individual's development, is the salary and status of these teachers appropriate in our modern society? To answer this question lets ponder upon certain facts.

As per 2018 Global Teacher Status Index ( By Varkey Foundation), members of the general public and teachers, were asked to rank, by level of respect, 14 professions, including doctor, nurse, lawyer, librarian, local government manager, social worker, accountant, police officer, engineer, accountant, management consultant and website engineer. The average respect ranking for a teacher was seventh across the 35 nations. Teachers in China have the greatest respect from people in their country, according to research examining attitudes to teachers around the world. It was the only country where people compared teachers closely to doctors, with the majority of places opting for social-workers, and in the case of the US, Brazil, France and Turkey, they compared them to librarians. India stands next to China in giving respect to teachers. Also survey shows in India, parents do prefer that their children to take up teaching as their career. But salary is not great for a teacher in India. In many private schools they are exploited. They are under paid. Many schools don't even have a chair for their teacher in the classroom. They are allotted more classes per day than they could handle. They don't get even time to sit. I personally know many teachers who suffer from varicose veins. Doctors advise them to take rest in between classes but it is not possible as schools follow no chair for teacher in classroom policy. In spite of all these pain they endure they are not well respected.

Even in this pandemic teachers are acquainting themselves with technology and taking online classes. During online classes every day we hear teachers being harassed. All these incidents and facts again make us to question are we giving the teachers the respect, status and salary they deserve? I think we need to introspect ourselves and formulate certain strategies so that we could give the teachers their due.
The new policy of education has touched upon certain aspects to improve their status and betterment of their work environment (I will be writing about this aspect in my series of blogs on National Policy of Education). But there are many more things to do.

So on this teacher’s day let’s take it upon ourselves to teach the younger generation to respect the teachers. Let’s make their work environment comfortable. If your child studies in a school were the teachers are made to stand continuously please don’t feel proud about the school. Instead ask the management to provide chairs for them in their classrooms so that they can sit for a while whenever required. Try to find how much salary is paid to the teachers in the school where your child studies. Most private schools charge lakhs of rupees in fees and pay meagre amounts to teachers. May be you could do your bit for their betterment as good teachers are going to mould our future citizens.

I attribute whatever little success I have obtained in my life and career to my teachers next to my parents. On this teacher's day I remember all my primary school teachers who have laid foundation in me so that I am able to gain knowledge in my future as without a strong foundation a building could not stay strong. I thank each and every one of my school and graduation teachers who taught me different subjects and made me realise in which my true interest lies in. I also thank all my mentors who have taught me many different things in life.

I wish each and every teacher, A Very Happy Teacher’s Day…