Equip students with ability to question power

IT is Paulo Freire, one of the greatest educationists, who must be remembered on Teachers' Day because it was he who redefined the teacher's role. While S Radhakrishnan emphasised the teacher as a guide, philosopher and moral force, Freire extended this vision, saying that a teacher is also a learner, and that the best teaching is grounded in dialogue, humility and shared inquiry.

Freire transformed the teacher-taught relationship from a hierarchical, one-way transfer of knowledge into a dialogical, participatory and liberating process where both grow together as co-creators of knowledge. In his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he characterises the traditional model as the "banking model of education", in which the teacher assumes the role of an all-knowing authority who "deposits" information into the minds of passive learners.

In this framework, knowledge is treated as a fixed commodity, and students as empty vessels, awaiting the teacher's wisdom. Such a pedagogy reinforces domination, fosters conformity and deprives learners of the opportunity to develop critical consciousness. It reproduces social hierarchies by conditioning students to accept authority uncritically.

Freire proposes a dialogical model of education. Dialogue is not mere conversation but a mode of co-investigation, where both parties bring their experiences and perspectives into a search for meaning. It disrupts the rigid boundaries of authority, allowing education to become a genuinely humanising process.

Freire also advances a "problem-posing" approach to education. Teachers and students together interrogate social, political and cultural issues, thereby linking education to concrete human struggles. This process cultivates critical consciousness, enabling learners to perceive oppressive structures and imagine possibilities for transformation.

Freire does acknowledge that teachers bring experience, perspective and responsibility. Yet, their authority is not authoritarian; it is exercised with humility, respect and openness towards creating conditions for collective inquiry, ensuring that students' voices are heard and fostering a democratic classroom environment. Underlying this vision is a commitment to humanisation. Oppressive systems, whether political, educational or social, dehumanise individuals by treating them as objects to be manipulated.

The central role of education in a democracy is to cultivate critical consciousness among citizens. By equipping learners with the ability to interrogate power structures, challenge dominant ideologies and articulate alternative visions of society, education functions as a safeguard against hegemony and authoritarianism. When education fails in this role, it risks being an instrument of indoctrination.

So, this Teachers' Day, let us bring back the idea that education must not be used as an instrument of producing obedient subjects, but fearless citizens. It must give us the courage to resist authoritarian control and to say "no" when power tries to silence truth. A society where education serves the rulers rather than the people is a society that has already surrendered its freedom.

Manoj Kumar Jha is a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar.