Opinion Teach the teacher

As for the behaviour of our MPs, what could be a bigger indictment of our education system? It is an indictment of both voter and voted — the former for displaying singularly bad judgement (compounded by a serious lack of choice), and the latter for their complete abdication of responsibility. Is this what our education system has reduced the country to?

Whilst it is not my intention to analyse all that is wrong with the system, I would like to concentrate on one basic failure, which, to my mind, is perhaps at the root of the entire problem: Our failure to develop a scientific and progressive system of teacher-training. The preoccupation of all governments has been with developing high-profile institutes of higher education, such as medical colleges, IITs and IIMs. Somewhere along the line we seem to have forgotten or ignored the fact that the entire supply chain to these institutions stems from our schools, and that if that product is flawed or not well prepared, there will be a huge attrition in the numbers of those who try to negotiate the challenges of higher education. The recent case of the expulsions from the IITs is a sad example.

There is yet another dimension to this problem. When teachers are not trained to be genuine educators but perceive their job as merely guiding, however desultorily, their wards through the labyrinth of examinations, they cannot be expected to instil any values remotely connected to good citizenship in their students. They lack the skills, and even when they have them, the examination-heavy system ensures that they do not have the time. Our MPs behave badly largely because they have been taught no better. India has a huge problem, in as much as, few opt for teaching as a first-choice career. We compound it by not training the ones that do.

So, what is the answer? It is to give teacher-training along modern, scientific lines top priority. We have to train our

teachers to break away from mere curriculum-delivery and “teaching to the test” to challenge students to think critically, problem-solve, communicate, work as a team, use technology judiciously — and, most importantly, to place great emphasis on values like honesty, integrity, empathy and civic pride.

Teachers need to be supported by the entire system. Parents must understand that “the times they are a changing”, and that success in an examination is not the sole criteria for success in a globalised economy. Universities must synergise with the school system and both must think creatively about the certification and entrance processes.

It must be our effort to ensure that every school, right from the ones in the village to the high-end ones in the city, is manned by well-trained teachers. Each state must create and sustain a chain of teacher-training institutions manned by the finest faculty and steeped in research. For government schools, it might be worth considering a teaching cadre, driven not by ideology, but by

skills and a passion to reach out to the young. Attractive salaries are essential, but professional training and an esprit de corps are also essential ingredients of professional pride. After all, the army jawan earns much less than some of his civilian counterparts, but can anyone get remotely close to the kind of pride that the jawan has in his uniform?

All that India is aspiring to be will re main a mere dream unless we invest in our teachers.

The writer retired as principal,  Welham Boys School, Dehradun