Sept. 5 – Teachers Day in India – is about teaching, not
about learning. It is the one day that should be dedicated to Teachers, not to
learners. It should be a recognition of what teachers do for 30 years of their
lives, five or six days of the week. It should be an acknowledgement of what it
takes to be a teacher with a class of 30 students or thereabouts, on a
conservative average.
That day should be dedicated not to learners from but to those
who teach us whether we want to learn or not. We may learn from all guides,
mentors and coaches - but they are not Teachers. All teachers may be coaches, guides
and mentors (CGM) but the reverse is not true.
Is there really a difference? You bet there is!
Context: Teachers work in the formal sector, in institutions
called students and colleges which are strictly regulated and accountable to
various stakeholders. CGM work in non-formal sectors. Schools are public
service institutions, regularly inspected by boards of education, often written
about in the press, and open to being challenged by parents and the public. Contrarily,
coaching classes may be structured and run like clockwork but they make up
their own rules and set their own standards, accountable to no one except their
own internal administration. If parents complained about them, the wards (to
distinguish them from their role as students) would be shown the door! Guides
and mentors, of course, function in the personal space, where formality of any
kind is absent.
Professionalism: Teachers are professionals, unlike
guides and mentors. They are appointed based on formal credentials, which may
be true of some coaches. Teachers qualify themselves through formal teacher
education programs, passing exams, having pieces of paper that guarantee that
they have the requisite education. On the other hand, CGM’s credibility is
based on their experiences. They must have played their sport at competitive
levels and have name-recognition, or served in positions of note in relevant
organizations. Vastly different professional profiles, right?
Selectivity: Schools may have entrance exams and
interviews for students and parents. But once they are given admission,
teachers don’t have a choice of who they will have in their classrooms. The
rosters are made for them and they have to deal with the numbers and personalities
in their classes. The matching of CGM to their wards, on the other hand, is
usually a choice made by both. Mentors especially have a choice of who they
will and will not mentor. The what, how and when of CGM-mentee meetings is
usually defined by the CGM, perhaps in consultation with the mentees while
teachers increasingly have little control over the curriculum, content and
pedagogy. Mentors may decide to take a walk along the beach with their mentee
on a fine day; teachers have to fill out multiple forms in triplicate days and
weeks in advance for a field trip, if such a thing is ever part of the
curriculum.
Expectations: Students, parents, and the society at
large, have high (sometimes unrealistic?) expectations of teachers. Teachers
are then held accountable for their own and their students’ performances. When
these benchmarks are not met, all the stakeholders feel free to air their
disappointment and anger in public, loudly and clearly. Teachers are not
allowed to have reciprocal expectations of parents, and cannot expect parents
to take a child to a museum or ensuring that the child is adequately nourished.
On the contrary, when a child does not win a tennis tournament, the coach is
not blamed but is paid more to offer more intensive, individualized sessions.
Mentors and guides, of course, are exempt from any accountability since they do
it out of the goodness of their hearts!
Motivation: All of the above have a huge impact on
the motivation of wards and students. Wards are in the coaching and training
program or mentoring relationship because they choose to be. The topic is of
interest to them and they trust the CGM. Students, on the other hand, attend
school because they are forced to and study subjects they have no interest in. Motivation
is thus built into CGM interactions while teachers have to swim against the
tide of student disinterest and begin with a built-in disadvantage. Further,
guides and mentors function in a one-on-one setting where building trust and
confidence is much easier and less stressful, while a teacher has 25 to 90
students. Not quite an even playing field, is it?
What does any of this have to do with Teachers Day in India?
We learn from many people, at different points in our lives. By all means,
respect and honour your coach, guide and mentor. But on Sept. 5 could you
honour your teachers, and only your teachers, and not conflate them with your
coach, guide or mentor? One day, just that one day, let teachers be remembered
for who they are and what they do, not who we are and how we learn. Maybe then
we will begin to understand and respect how much we expect of teachers, and
value what they truly being to our lives.
