by: Dr.
Shazad Ahmed Malik
On this auspicious occasion
of Teachers Day, let me congratulate all teachers and students of India and my native state of Jammu and
Kashmir. Today everyone of us whosoever he or she is; whatever position one
occupying is somewhere because of the
knowledge and values imbibed by the teacher.
In our culture and in
religious history of India, the Teacher or Guru has been given paramount
respect and been compared with God. But it is quite unfortunate that like other
professions this noble profession is also losing its sheen and Integrity in the
society. There may be variety of reasons for this decline like
commercialization of our educational system and digitization of information and
less human interface.
Whatever the reason is, but
being a Teacher, it hurts deep when
during my interaction with students, I realize this bitter fact that gradually the noble profession of
teaching is not in the desired list of professions that our younger generation
wishes to opt after completing their studies. This is really a shock for me not
only as a teacher at present but even as a person who desired this noble profession
like many other contemporaries of mine.
As per census data 2011, the
literacy rate (collective of male and female) in Jammu and Kashmir have touched
67.16 % which is 11.64 % more than the
census data of 2001, the male literacy rate
have increased by 10.15 percent as compared to 2001 census data and
presently it is 76.75 %. The female literacy rate have also witnessed an upward
trend during the last decade, as per 2001 census it was just 43 percent which
have now crossed 56 percent as per the last census of 2011.
In
militancy infested state of ours, In a decade this spurt of 10 percent overall literacy rate is
appreciable and for that we must congratulate the political dispensations but
the real credit for this increase is dedication and honesty of majority of the
teachers who challenged all the odds like difficult terrain, climate, poor road
connectivity but helped to lit the lamp of education.
On one side during the last
decade the literacy rate have increased in the state but on the other side the noble profession of
teaching have also been eclipsed with controversies and scandals.
A decline of honour by the society has been
noticed for teaching profession which may be attributed
due to the penetration of a few dubious, unprofessional, incompetent and
unskilled persons in the profession,
unfortunately in India and especially in our state of Jammu and Kashmir there
is no fixed parameter to access and evaluate whether a person is fit to be a
teacher or not.
To be qualified and called
as a Doctor, Engineer, Lawyer and Architect besides basic academic
qualification one must possess the
professional degree or diploma to render services as a professional, in these
professions merely possessing an educational qualification even though with
highest marks do not confer any right upon anyone to pursue the profession unless he qualifies
the professional course.
But in case of teacher as of
now there is no such prerequisite to hold any professional degree diploma or
even certificate, merely holding an academic qualification is sufficient to
pursue the profession of teacher, there is not even any provision of compulsory
basic training.
It is high time that the
educationists, lawmakers and the civil society join hands and try to build a
consensus so that only competent and skilled people with conviction to serve
the society are allowed to join this noble profession.
A person without having a
formal medical degree and training cannot diagnose anyone in the government
hospital similarly he cannot open a private clinic but in case of teaching
profession, as of now though there are few norms and standards fixed for
appointment as a teacher in government institute but in the private educational
institutes specially in the pre-primary, primary, middle and High school level
there is complete apathy, many such private institutes appoint faculty members
even without having sufficient educational qualification forget any
professional degree or diploma. It is surprising that when we do not allow a
fake doctor to diagnose even an animal then how we can allow pseudo teachers to
continue ruin the future of budding generations of our society without any
check.
An ailing human being may be
cured with modern treatment and medicine but if once the social structure of
the society which up to a large extent is motivated by the teacher is dislocated
then only God can help us.
In the recent past, Jammu
and Kashmir have witnessed some miserable incidents where a number of teachers
have been arrayed as accused in cases of paper leak scam while others being
arrested. If one have a look at the data
related to criminal cases filed against people associated with teaching
professions then it comes to light that
there are variety of serious charges against them like molestation,
rape, rape attempt on minor, forging documents, corporal punishment, accepting
bribe, forgery etc. We have also heard
news reports of postponement of examination of not only University Level exams
but even that of class 12th paper, 10th and shockingly class 8th paper as well
due to paper leak. How one can forget to mention the case of the aspiring
candidate for Rehbar-e-Taleem teacher who could not write even an essay on cow,
( we should be thankful to the judiciary who timely intervened in the instant case)
but was so curious and confident to join this profession perhaps that candidate
was sure that he would be accommodated only in this sector. The above stated information may be painful
but truth and we can’t be blind to this fact. It is not an allegation
against the teaching community of which
I am also a part but it is time to introspect.
The quality of education is directly
proportion to the ethics, morality and professionalism of a teacher; we may
have modern schools, smart classes, state of the art infrastructure but without
having professional faculty nothing can
be achieved. One moral teacher is sufficient to nurture the future of thousands
of youth the task which even 100 model schools can’t do. Teaching is not a
ordinary job that can be assumed only after acquiring higher qualification or
good grades in academic discourse, the teacher should have the ability to learn
and only then he can be a good teacher.
The intention to put the above record is not to defame
any individual or profession but just to underline the neglect so that we wake
up and take corrective measures but if anyone’s feelings are hurt I regret for
the same. The author is Vice Chancellor
of Sai Nath University, Ranchi and native of District Poonch of Jammu and
Kashmir. He can be mailed at shazadmalik2002@yahoo.co.in
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