Let us learn to honour all teachers on teachers day not only limiting to schools

By K.G.Behl – President, All India Consumers Council, Uttarakhand.

Teaching, literally means imparting knowledge or skill with such love and care that it inspires in the recipient a confidence to make that knowledge one’s own and stand on one’s own feet to go ahead. Normally, teaching is associated with schools and colleges and those who teach there are known as teachers. On ‘Teachers Day’ all students assemble and honour their teachers to show their love, respect and regards.

But actually the role of a teacher is played by different people at different times and it keeps on shifting as we grow up. Initially mother plays the role of grooming and teaching and father and other members of the family assist her till one comes to the stage to go to school and learn independently. At home, the child learns all the chores which people at home perform in their day to day life. The mother, who plays a key role in teaching, keeps a strict watch on the activities and keeps on guiding the child so that the child picks up correct habits and is not swayed by the people around in the family who out of their love and affection and in order to create some fun, tell children things which are contrary to the normal practice. Since children are quick to learn and pick up those things first, which are contrary to the rules. They enjoy doing those antics. This is the stage of transformation where utmost care has to be given by the parents, specially mothers, so that the child may not pick up undesired elements.

Teaching is a noble profession which grooms everyone from birth till death in one or the other form. The role of a teacher is played by different people at different times and it keeps on shifting as we grow. It is a very hard work which needs dedication, devotion and sacrifice to imbibe in children a spirit to learn. The tendency these days in students is to learn only that much which is sufficient to score more marks or needed to score better in professional examinations. At times teachers too get swayed in the urge of students to learn for their careers alone and limit their teaching accordingly. This has generated in some teachers a tendency to make more money in the process by taking tuitions after school/college hours.

There was a time when teachers were being paid less than their other counterparts in society but the introduction of University Grants Commission scales they are now rather better off than others. Well there are some schools which are not paying as much as they should but most of the standard public schools and Govt. schools and colleges are being paid better scales, so far as I know. There is no wonder that the public expects from teachers little more devotion and dedication to consider the welfare of the society as well over and above their other responsibilities. They must teach students so that they come out of the institutes as completely educated persons and attain capability to stand on their feet and take the challenges boldly.

The teachers must ensure that the students study in an atmosphere which is quiet and learn how to tackle and solve problems peacefully. The teachers must maintain a close liaison with the parents of the students and interact with them if they find the student behaving differently than expected. The parents have an equal role to play in grooming children and there are many things which the parents can influence in molding children. At times parents in order to pamper their children forget what rules and regulations of the society do not permit and instead of stopping the child from picking up bad habits expect teachers in school to stop them where as it is their responsibility as teachers at home. There are certain issues which need attention of parents as well as school teachers and need to be jointly tackled.

The spirit of Nationalism needs to be revived in students, which can be best done by the teachers alone. They are capable of doing so and have done it earlier also. So, on this teachers day I invoke the soul and spirit of teachers to take up this onerous task of building Nation by transforming students into true nationalists. The teachers played a very big role during our country’s Freedom Movement and I am sure that they will play another such stellar role to build the Nation again. It is the requirement of the time as India is young on a much younger age group than most of the counties of the world and these youngsters can be molded by the teachers alone.
The teachers must imbibe in students a spirit to honour and pay full regards to not only parents but all those from whom they learn in various fields.

Let us hope that old traditional ways of teaching and learning will be revived to bring spirituality and nationalism to develop country on the lines for which India is known world over.