Raising your child properly

Chabungbam Aruna Devi *

Women make up a large part of primary teachers worldwide shaping the young minds, fostering the academic, social and emotional development of young learners making their formative year. However, there are many challenges in this noble profession.

Many research studies have been conducted majority of which tend to concentrate mainly on pupils' difficulties. Not much has been heard about the challenges that confront women teachers in primary schools. From the early stages many societies have been expecting women to be primary caregivers at home.

For example, when a female teacher has children she is generally assumed to bear the major responsibilities of household duties despite being engaged to her full time school works.

Preparation of school lessons plan till late night after wrapping up family chores whereas male teachers with families may face fewer domestic roles unlike their family counterparts which is a clear separation between work and family life between genders.

A child will get their first taste of what will eventually become their formal education while sitting on their mother's lap. It is where they will get their first taste of education. Teaching of proper etiquette to children by their parents and other members of the family is one of the essential factors in determining the kinds of adults that those children will become in future.

Although the children do not start their formal education until they are enrolled in the school. Generally, for children homes are frequently referred to as the "First School". Even though the children are enrolled in a school one must know that they are taught how to function in the society and make a sense of events happening all around them in this environment.

Teaching primary students is not just an intellectual work but deeply emotional too. Women teachers often take their role of motherhood in the classroom comforting crying children, meditating disputes and fostering a safe and supportive environment. This emotional labour is often neglected, invisible and left uncompensated.

In today's digital era parents have various platform to empower themselves as to how to deal with young children even when they lack expertise in pedagogy. Many parents expect their children to excel in all subjects and provide with extra attention at the expense of others which is neither fair nor sustainable. They claim that they don't have time. This is a sad fact.

Lack of parental support poses significant difficulties when some parents are disengaged or unwilling to participate in their children's education. When parents fail to acknowledge their role in their children's education it creates a gap that teachers alone cannot bridge.

There are cases where students exhibit behavioural problems in which some parents refuse to accept feedback blaming the teachers for any issue rather than addressing the child 's shortcomings. There are different types of students in every class, some students are found to be fast learners, some slow.

To satisfy all of them in a particular way adds to the pressure on teachers. Handling children to read, write and understand better in the lesson will be incomplete without parental support. Both parents and teachers are essential partners in the educational journey.

The journey is incomplete without mutual respect, cooperation and understanding of both sides. The foundation carries the entire building, so it is high time to recognise and support the women teachers who are taking the lead roles towards a National Future Foundation.