Teachers’ Day

The entire country is observing Teachers’ Day on Thursday, marking the birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. It is said that when he became President of India in 1962, some of his students and admirers wanted to celebrate his birthday. A humble person as he was, Dr Radhakrishnan however turned down the proposal, and instead suggested that they observe Teachers’ Day on September 5 – his birthday – and honour and recognize the millions of teachers of the country, for most of whom teaching in that era was more a mission than a job. But, while India has been observing Teachers’ Day year after year, all do not appear to be very encouraging and good about this profession, and more so of a large section of people who have chosen this profession. While college and university teachers and those employed in government schools are pretty well-off with good salary and other service conditions, thousands of teachers working in private schools and colleges as also in ‘venture’ educational institutions (institutions established by people of a locality and had received affiliation and concurrence), contractual teachers in colleges and even those employed under TET, have been literally living a pathetic life. Promises have been made and broken innumerable times by successive governments, including the present one headed by Sarbananda Sonowal, to regularize jobs of teachers. One glaring example of the government’s callous attitude towards teachers in Assam is the non-implementation of the The Assam (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Reorganization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017. This particular Act had received Governor’s assent in April, 2017 and was also notified through the Assam Gazette a few days later. But nothing happened after that. Then Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had promised to implement this Act, but after he was relieved of the Education portfolio, the Act has been either dumped in the dustbin or is gathering dust in the present Education minister’s office. The worst part is that the government had in 2013 even published a list of over 2,500 teachers working in over 300 such venture junior colleges and higher secondary schools, only to change its position and thus expose its own inefficiency. This matter appears fit for attracting attention of the Gauhati High Court. Yet another category of teachers who have been languishing for years with peanuts of a salary are the contractual teachers in colleges across Assam. There are many instances where such contractual teachers were deprived of even applying for the regular post because of the age-bar which they cross waiting. The condition of teachers in privately owned schools are also no better. Most such institutions charge huge sums of money as tuition fees of the students, as also a hefty sum as annual fee. For the owners of such institutions it is just another business like supplying adulterated cement to government departments. Teachers are literally treated as slaves; anybody raising a voice of protest is liable to be thrown out without any warning or notice. On the contrary, the quality of not all teachers who enjoy full government benefits and UGC norms including salary, DA, earned leave, medical benefits and so on, can be described as satisfactory and up-to-the-mark. A random survey will easily show that a sizeable section of teachers working in the state’s colleges and universities do not have basic teaching skills despite having secured good marks and are not fit to be there. It is also common knowledge that there are teachers who, after having scored low marks in Assam had obtained exceptionally high marks from some particular universities outside the region, but do not have the required knowledge of and grip over their respective subjects. And then, there are teachers who have obtained PhD degrees from some private universities that were in the news for providing such degrees in lieu of huge sums of fees and donations. Teachers in the private universities too are very shabbily treated. There is also a section of teachers who are known for skipping classes to remain busy in various non-academic activities including the Xahitya Xabha, while one section is busy only in taking private tution of the same set of students whom they should be actually teaching with dedication in the classroom itself. Thus, there are good teachers and bad teachers, efficient teachers and inefficient teachers, highly qualified teachers and under-qualified teachers, dedicated teachers and kam-chor teachers, well-paid teachers and under-paid teachers, teachers with excellent teaching skills and teachers with poor teaching skills, teachers who understand the psychology of students and teachers who do not, teachers who consider their jobs as missions and teachers who are there only to earn money, and so on. It is a sad story to be talked about on such a solemn occasion like Teachers’ Day, observed in the memory of such a great teacher like Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. But then, it is probably also a fact that many of the highly-paid teachers may not have heard the name of Dr Radhakrishnan, not to speak of having read the life-story one of India’s greatest teachers and philosophers.

Also Read: Programmes chalked out for Teachers’ Day, Hailakandi