“I believe that there is no other profession in the world that is more important to society than that of a teacher” Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam]
It is really a great privilege and a great honour to be a teacher. A teacher has got the potential to influence generations and all other professions. As a teacher one must always remind oneself that he is a teacher. It has been rightly said that a teacher has the capacity to inspire others to dream more,to learn more, to do more, to become more. A teacher is a role model for the students and being a role model is the first and the most important skill which results in producing clones. If a teacher feels that by leaving an institution, what would happen to the institution and will it function smoothly in his absence? Then we must say that he fails as a teacher as he has failed to produce his own clones. Teaching is considered as the most noble profession at all times since it is these competent teachers who build the very foundation of a nation. We know that the job of a teacher to teach is not sufficient. A teacher has certain roles to play to become a good teacher which include role as teacher, role as philosopher, role as guide, role as researcher, role as manager, role as leader and many more. But as a teacher you may at times prove detrimental to the nation if you lack the basic qualities of an ideal teacher. Certain qualities make a teacher really an ideal teacher. The first quality is to be the best in character. What you say,you must do that practically. There should not be any contradiction in what is said and what is done. Your character should be that of a role model for the students. Next is having command over the subject. You must be in touch with the latest techniques and innovations made in the subject and must update and upgrade the subject knowledge accordingly. One more capacity is that you must be the best communicator. As a teacher you must know how to impart knowledge and how to make students learn better. To make a learner understand a concept, you have to come down to the level of the learner. Next the teacher has to be a social genius i.e. you must be a kind of friendly and open minded person. In a society you must be the most outspoken and sociable person. For a teacher to be an ideal one, you must contain motivation skill and must have the passion and spark to engage learners. One more quality is to have a learning attitude. A teacher is supposed to be learning all the time and that is why Joseph Joubart remarked, “To teach is to learn twice.” Moreover an ideal teacher is one who is progressive in nature and takes the nation forward. Further more a teacher should have the capacity of being a psychologist. As a teacher you must know your learner. Unless and until you get to know the weaknesses and strengths of learners, you won’t be able to make them learn better. In addition to these capacities a teacher must have the quality of having a positive learning attitude besides being disciplined. Lastly a teacher has to be professional and not materialistic. You must teach others for your inner satisfaction and not for material gains. Researchers have proven that the teacher who teaches for inner satisfaction proves to be more effective than the one who teaches from a materialistic point of view. Even the prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be up on him) once said that he has been sent as a teacher. So we can say that this profession is a prophetic profession and the person with such a profession must bear the attributes like reputation of kindness and honesty, compassion, humble life style, patience and steadfastness etc.
It is the collective responsibility of all the stake holders at the helm to look into it and try to restore the status of the revered teaching profession and at the same time teachers are also duty bound to introspect themselves so that any laxity on their part may be corrected at an earliest for the betterment of the whole society in general and the teaching community in particular.
The lamp of learning is considered under a cover, says one thinker; the teacher removes it and lets out the light. From ancient times a teacher called ‘guru’ the supreme teacher was considered as the ultimate God himself. The entire responsibility rested with such guru who imparted physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual upliftment of such souls in the form of his disciples. The person who takes charge of immature children and makes them worthy and useful citizens in society was naturally held in high reverence. It was the function of the teacher to lead the student from darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. The teacher was designated as the spiritual father of the student. During the Buddhist era, a teacher meant a practitioner who travelled some territory ahead of students. A teacher in the Brahmanic era was a person who removed ignorance and taught religion. In Gurukulas, the teacher was supposed to be at the heart of ancient India’s educational system. Teacher was regarded as the highly source and head of all knowledge. He was an embodiment of all good qualities and was regarded as the guide, builder and teacher of the society. The teacher had a great respect during Muslim period as well. They were considered as an encouraging factor, confident booster and moral supporter for students. The status of a teacher is at the top most layer of the ladder of hierarchy in most of the countries. They treat this profession as a physician and give it a high respect. When so much important and of a high calibre, the profession of teaching is, it must be regarded with high esteem and reverence in the present day society as well. But it is very much unfortunate that this profession is looked down upon and is not given that much of respect now a days. There may be certain reasons that are responsible for this disrespect. May be the fault lies in the teachers who lack the basic qualities and ethics of an ideal teacher. May be it is due to the growing trend of materialism or may be it is due to lack of moral education and moral values that is given very low importance these days. However what may be the reason, it is the collective responsibility of all the stake holders at the helm to look into it and try to restore the status of the revered teaching profession and at the same time teachers are also duty bound to introspect themselves so that any laxity on their part may be corrected at an earliest for the betterment of the whole society in general and the teaching community in particular.
(The author is a freelancer. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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