Are teachers teaching ? Apt, timely poser
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 05 2018 -
The question, ‘Are we teachers teaching?’ raised by a Professor from Manipur University in a write up and carried in this paper today (September 5), cannot be more timely than now.
This is a question which all conscientious teachers should have raised a long time back, given the fact that thousands of students make a beeline for other parts of the country once they pass their Class XII examination.
Apart from the overall environment, it is the quality of teaching that has proved to be one of the bigger push factors for thousands of students to move outside the State.
And it goes without saying that the role of teachers should not be understood only within the four walls of a classroom but also on how far they can inspire the students to aim higher and try to go one, two steps forward.
This is where the quality of interactions between the teachers and the students become important.
How committed are the teachers in motivating their students to aim higher and how successful have they been in winning the confidence of the students is a question that ought to have been raised a long time back.
These questions gain significance in the backdrop of what is happening at Manipur University.
Not for nothing is it that to majority of the people in Manipur, AP Pandey is nothing more than the VC of Manipur University.
The teacher in him died a long time back and it has been given a deeper burial with his stubbornness best exemplified by his return to the University damning the spirit of the Memorandum of Agreement inked between the striking MU community, the State Government and the Union Human Resource Development Ministry on August 16.
And when one talks about the quality of teaching, one may well question the deep rooted culture of private tuitions for school going kids.
The Sangai Express has already touched on this many times in the past and apart from the poor pay given to private school teachers for the burgeoning private tuition culture, it is the quality of teaching inside the classrooms.
So the question, ‘Are we teachers teaching ?’.
Add one more point to this poser and that is, if teachers do teach then what is it that they are teaching ?
This question is important for remember what is taught to the young minds can be reflected in the reality that one sees all around and a look at this reality should answer the question raised here.
In short, the job of a teacher should go beyond merely scribbling something on the black board, reading from the text book to explain a point but ideally they should be role models, a person who can motivate the young students to aim higher.
Till such a time comes, thousands of students will continue to migrate to other parts of the country looking for better avenues for their education.
It is also no wonder that a good number of the teachers here in Manipur prefer to send their children outside the State to study.
Isn’t this some sort of an admission that something is terribly wrong in the system that passes off as education here ?
Students, teachers, society as a whole need to come together and see how to improve things or else the exodus of students will continue and this certainly does not say anything good about the institutions here that are meant to educate the young students.
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