Give teachers freedom to mould pupils

Beant Singh 

The recent unsavoury incident relating to the humiliation of a District Education Officer at a school function by a minister, in the presence of her subordinates and students, is food for thought, especially for educationists. There was a time when even a schoolteacher teaching in the countryside commanded respect, not only among pupils, but also the general folk, who would turn to him for advice on mundane affairs. Students left under his care would follow all instructions regarding teaching as well as their conduct and deportment without fuming and fretting. A teacher would give his best and help produce good humans endowed with academic excellence. This would enhance his reverence in society and his reformatory approach made the profession a noble one. The respect he earned over the years would continue till he breathed his last, as society and his students in particular would remember him.

When Partap Singh Kairon, the progressive and visionary former Chief Minister of Punjab, established  Punjab Public School at Nabha in 1960, he gave required space to its founder principal in terms of choosing the faculty and other things to realise his dream of imparting quality education. Creditably, the scheme of things worked well and yielded the desired results, right from the inception of the school.

Things have changed since. In order to streamline the education  system, the modern-day set-up tries to ensure that its day-to-day pedagogic commands are complied with and subsequent information through mails are sent before school hours,    leaving school heads and staff in a tizzy. As a result, the real classroom teaching is lost sight of. 

At times, a team swoops on a school campus, not to give expert academic inputs to revamp the ailing education sector, but to create a sense of terror in the minds of educators. We want our children to imbibe the qualities of empathy, caring and sharing, but how can we expect a child to be empathetic when they see elders are not so towards their immediate subordinates?

E-touch in the classroom is not a substitute for the human touch of a teacher, and unless a teacher is given the freedom to mould his pupils the way he wants, or is allowed to make use of the methods of his choice — except punishment — and if he is not free of undue hierarchical pressure, not much can be expected of him. Let him be free to relate to students and let him be given free academic space to choose how best he would meet the expectations of the academic administrators. Let people at the academic helm, including school heads and DEOs, be given due respect by our elected leaders and bureaucrats, which will percolate down, if they are really desirous of toning up the ailing  education sector in our country.