: Adv. Ashwini Deshpande, Corporate Trainer and Consultant
“The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates, the great teacher inspires.”
In one of his lectures Dr. Abdul Kalam said that “Unless our students and young believe that they are worthy of being citizens of a developed India, how will they ever be responsible and enlightened citizens.”
He had aslo said that the best role model for children are their parents and teachers and that Education and the teacher-student relationship have to be seen not in business terms but with the nations growth in mind.
A proper education would help nurture a sense of dignity and self respect among our youth. These are qualities no law can enforce- they have to be nurtured ourselves.”
The relationship between Ramdas Swami and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Surdas and his guru, Aruni and Dhaumya are examples of this.
With our country of such a tradition of wonderful teacher-student relationship, the culture which believes in ‘Acharya Devo Bhava’ ie teacher is respected like God, we are now facing a deterioration in this relationship and in the respect given by the students to the teacher.
This has happened over a period of time and many factors are responsible for this. As a science it points to the logical, mechanical and procedural steps to be followed to attain an effective accomplishment of goals.
Teachers are known to be second parents. So establishing a positive teacher-student relationship is important. It helps to yield a beautiful environment in the classroom. Teaching as such started after the wandering age. First, the profession was taught at homes.
Then came the Gurukul method where the knowledge of the guru was imparted in a formal manner. Because of limited students and less areas of knowledge all these areas were workable. But in the age of outburst of knowledge, areas of information and knowledge widened and therfore the teaching-learning process started gaining importance.
So the teacher needs continuous self improvement and appraisal. Teachers have a great responsibility of guiding the tremendous energy of the youth in a constructive way as what the youth lacks is a driving force.
An ideal teacher himself should have vast and deep knowledge. He must be able to clear away the students fear of studies and should be able to turn them into storehouses of knowledge without which a refined and higher life cannot be lived. The teacher should be easily approachable and should be a friend, philosopher and guide of the students.
The teacher should be able to inculcate certain virtues like punctuality, care of health, equal emphasis on reading and writing, perseverance, kind heartedness and the like.
He should be patient, impartial, enthusiastic, a good evaluator, confident and responsible. This will enable them to perceive emotional fluctuations among students. The teacher should motivate and inspire his students and have devotion and great love to those who call ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’.
It is said that, “We are here on this earth with a sublime mission,to make a splendid contribution to humanity. Our society believes that any person can become a teacher. But experience has shown that not everyone is capable of being a teacher.
The teacher should know that the students understand the quality of teachers and respect only knowledgeable and dedicated teachers. Today’s children require teachers who discuss topics like self-respect, self awareness, friendship and family. The most important quality of a teacher is that she/he needs to be a parent.
Wealth should not be the issue. The teachers should understand that they have accepted a noble vocation and are not forced into it. So they should do it with complete dedication owning up the Do’s and Don’ts of the profession.
Central values of human life are extremely important and they have to be nurtured in educational institutions.
Today when every kind of corruption is paralysing the moral sensibility of people, where there is erosion of values, it is the prerogative of the teachers to nurture these values.
