Teacher- A Society reformer

Introduction: Although people have a great misconception that those who do not get any types of job opportunity, can easily become teachers but in my view it is one of the most promising and noble professions in our society. A person who is a teacher has a great responsibility on his/her shoulders in order to what values and knowledge is he/she offering to the students and followers.

A teacher in true sense has the ability to set the brains of the students in a manner that they can either be productive or could be destructive to the society. For example if we consider great philosophers like Plato (428-348 BCE), Aristotle (384-322 BCE), Socrates (469-399 BCE) and so many others have given such lessons that they changed the thinking of the people towards divinity. They were humble, kind and truthful so that they inspired the people to change their lives for the peace and harmony of the society. On the other hand there are some groups of people who mislead the society in a very harmful manner on the name of religion.  As a teacher I believe that there are so many opinions and thoughts to share about the teachings and their outcomes. What I observe now a days is that the education sector is lagging behind and losing its reputation, ethics and moral values. There may be so many reasons for that. Whom should we blame? Actually there is no single person who is responsible for this but rather the entire system from top to bottom has the significant role to play here. I can divide the system in three categories i.e; the institutions or universities, the faculties and the students. 

Role of the institutions or universities:       

The universities and educational institutes are the platform for education system. One can lead his/her life in a sophisticated manner as a civilized human being only when he/she is properly educated. In our society the emphasis on education is not given up to the mark and especially for woman education. But if a female of the family is educated her kids will definitely be educated. Thus the girl’s education is even more important.Thus the educational organizations or universities play a vital role to develop our society. But there is a darker picture also about them. Recently through so many surveys we have come to know that there are many institutes and universities whose condition is pathetic. Many of the colleges do not have sufficient faculty staff, class rooms and basic facilities which need to be provided by them in order to have good educational environment.   Some of the colleges are not paying their teachers good enough that they are not even bothered about what they are teaching to their students. They do not take the lectures regularly and seriously so that the students get attracted towards the academics. As per the NDTV India’s “Ravish ka show”, universities series there are uncountable colleges and central universities where only one or two or three or four professors are appointed. In one of the most renowned universities of our country i.e. BHU, there are 400 vacant positions while in AMU as per Times of India, 2017, 325 seats are not filled. In Bihar Lalit Narain University colleges have worst ratio of occupied and available seats. In R.K. College there are in total 127 positions out of which 97 posts of professors are vacant. In D.B. College, Jainagar, out of 53 positions 49 are vacant. In K.S. College Lahariya Sarai, 45 seats are vacant for 63 total posts. In Sri Krishn Mahila College of Rajasthan over 10,500 girls students there is a shocking number of appointed professors which is only 30. So there is only 1 professor per 1200 students. Although it is a NAC accredited college. Not only do this but if we talk about the salaries many of the colleges not provide full pay scales. They appoint the faculties on adhoc basis so that they do not give the other facilities like leaves, medical, salary bonus and other facilities. Even the colleges depute guest lecturers who earn 500 rupee for one lecture per day and cannot earn more than 25000 in a month. Here we can say that minimum is maximum. Even a laborer can earn 250 rupee in a day. So the education graph is falling.  End of the day people are bound to think that if we can’t lead our life with basic financial facilities then what for are we getting this higher education. In a famous quote of Nazeer Baqri this pain of youth is reflected. He says “Khada hoon aaj bhi roti ke char harf liye, sawal ye hai kitabon ne kya diya mujhko”.  The state government and central government make so many fake promises to compensate this disastrous situation of educational industry. In fact the state and central universities are running projects where the youth and next generation is ruined. They want that the students should pay the fee against no academic facilities provided by them. The universities should be better called godowns where the students are stored like vegetables and serials in completely dark. The ministry of human resource department (MHRD) should be better called ministry of human resource destruction (MHRD). The vice chancellors are are paid hugely for doing nothing. As per the report published in Indian Express by Hritika Chopra, that even in UGC (University Grants Commission), after 3^rd April, 2017, three important officers are not being appointed. It is one of the greatest scams of our country where no one is really focusing. Different techniques are being followed in order to ruin the students. The results are declared after one or two years of clearing the examinations so that the students are not ready to enter the professional world on immediate effect. The reservation schemes are used by these organizations on the basis of caste but not the merit. Our politicians expand this quota for the sake of vote bank. The deserving candidates do not even get chance to get admissions in better universities and government organizations to make their career. This yields frustration, harassment and corruption in the youth. The overall mind set of the people get disturbs and affect the society. Thus the higher level education system is not getting ruined but it is ruining our society.

Role of the Teachers:           

The teachers not only make the students academically strong but they built the character of an individual or in other words built the society. A teacher leaves a great impact of his/her personality, values and attitude on a student. In a true sense a teacher is the reformer of the society. Since childhood a student learns a lot of things from a teacher. As a teacher I realize that both student as well as a teacher learns throughout their lives. In fact the human beings learn for their entire life. A teacher can promote the students that how they can prepare themselves to face the battle of life.  In the above discussed paragraph we have paid attention to our universities and educational institutes about what they are doing for teachers. This paragraph will be dedicated to what faculties are doing for their institutes. It is always fare to consider both sides of a coin. The teachers are supposed to perform a lot of responsible acts in their work functions. But are they really doing what they are expected to do? I have doubt even as a teacher. Starting from the starting in many government organizations where the time punctuality is not an issue, they arrive late not only in the campus but in class also if they come. But many a times they do not take their prescribed lectures. Many of our fellow colleagues are not capable to teach well while some times not able to handle the queries of students. The way of presentation is also not appealing many a times. Although the professional language of conversation is considered to be English in our society but most of us can hardly speak or even write properly. They try to become friends of the students so that the students can not only help them in different ways but may also portray their image in front of the management of the organization that so and so faculty is the best in all manners. The teachers do not want to upgrade themselves by studying and keeping in touch with current affairs and developments in their fields. A teacher is supposed to be good speaker, thinker, learner, observer, administrator, commander, researcher, supporter of students, skill developer and so on. The list of the qualities of a teacher is endless but in recent times this has ended at many junctures. Every person has its weaknesses and strengths but the teachers are supposed to be strong in almost all the aspects so that they can get respect appreciation and love from the people surrounding them. Unfortunately I see very seldom people who posses all these properties. Everybody is in hurry to gain higher peaks in life in their area but the peaks are sharper which tells that they are different from the other surroundings. They forget about the qualities required to be at peaks. Somehow when they reach peaks they are not worthy of them. They really don’t deserve to be at such heights. Both they achieve these heights by some source or by luck and in very rare cases these heights are well deserved.  But again there may be some college specific issues which cause all this to happen like departmental politics, etc. In my views since the job opportunities are very less people get indulged into some sort of politics and flattery. They do not want that somebody better than them come into the department as now they would be in trouble. The examination system is also bad. People are exploited at every stage therefore they forget their moral values and ethics. For example universities pay very small amounts at the time of evaluation thus the teachers do not pay full attention to the answer scripts and check the scripts as fast as possible in order to make more and more money although the justification to the scripts is not done. In such cases students who deserve better may sometime get less mark compared to the one who do not know anything. The purpose of this summary is to bring to your notice the real picture of our educational system.

Role of the students:            

The entire education system is based on students. If they are not there, the system will not be there. They are considered as the last or first loop of educational system chain. When I was the student I used to fear a lot with my teachers even at graduation level. I used to think that if something is not understandable to me, I will see in books and may discuss with my friends. It was because at that time teachers used to be so strict and harsh on the students that we could barely talk to them. Now the things have completely changed. The students are quiet friendly with teachers. They hardly hesitate to ask their query. It is good upto certain extent but they have become so confident that they are ready to insult their faculties and disobey them. The academics of the students have fallen down drastically. They cram their syllabus just before a week or two days prior to their examination. Then due to the lenient policies of colleges and universities they score high marks. They get the confidence that with the study of one week only if I can score good marks then even two days would be enough for this. This results into less knowledge. They cannot keep the things in their brains for longer duration. Thus their memory also does not work effectively. Talking about practical skills they do not do anything in the labs and still score good marks which boost their moral for not doing anything and getting best results. In earlier days students used to commit suicide as being incapable in studies. Now is the time when most of them are least concerned about their knowledge and educational qualification. They think as if they are on a picnic for at least three to four years for about six to seven hours. They get best environment for roaming in campus and even outside the campus. They get sound amount of pocket money to spend on them and their friends. They wear very stylish and trendy cloths as if the fashion show is happening in each and every campus on daily basis. They have become so smart that they use all types of high quality gadgets including laptops and mobile phones. They do not hesitate in making and sharing their love affairs with their friends and even faculties. I believe that upto a certain extent all these things are good as it shows the status of our society but at the same time the basic motive of studies is diminished. The students do not realize that this is the time when they can make themselves ready for carrier making or they can ruin their career. The thinking of the students is developing in other direction. They want shortcuts for the success. But since it is very well known that there is no shortcut to the success, end of the day they regret about what they have lost. The time never comes again. They start taking coaching after completing the education in order to get good jobs. They spend money and time again. And not only does this but the opportunities also reduce day by day.  The frustration level grows up as the parents expect from their kids to do well or at least begin their career. That time they give excuses of unemployment, corruption, reservation, etc. The fact of the matter is that they try to hide their mistakes.   I believe that good students are also there but they are very less in numbers. They are spoiling themselves and they are not even aware of it because of the drawbacks f our education system. Thus I can conclude that entire education system is responsible for its present condition in our country. We should make best use of resources and media to aware our youth and next generation to get up and think about their future because ultimately their future is nation’s future.

 References:

·         “Advice of change of names of BHU and AMU”, Ravish Ka show universities series, 2017, on prime time 9.00 PM IST, duration 36.38, link http://khabar.ndtv.com.

·         “How will the level of education improve in our country”, Ravish Ka show universities series, 2017, on prime time 9.00 PM IST, duration 36.50, link https://khabar.ndtv.com.

·         “Who are responsible for poor education standards among children”, link www.indiastudychannel.com, January 18,2013.