India’s number comes after them somewhere around 90, some people say that our number is around 60. This means that our condition is worrying. Almost half of our population is illiterate or very poorly educated. The tragedy is that China, which we have surpassed in terms of population, has twice the number of teachers as us, that is, about two crore. The countries that are in the forefront have 50 to 80 lakh teachers. It is estimated that about 15 crore children in the world go to institutions equipped with magnificent buildings and all kinds of facilities to study in the morning. These include developing countries like India as well as underdeveloped ones. Among them, you will also find big beautiful educational buildings and schools built in houses, shops, mansions, old dilapidated houses which are built in the streets and neighborhoods with the aim of getting funds or assistance from the Sarva-Sikshya Abhiyan or any similar government scheme. The person who invests money in these is never revealed, but a renowned teacher or one who has taken training in teaching, be it B.Ed or M.Ed, is put forward. His main job is to arrange money from government facilities and non-governmental NGOs and charitable institutions opened with the aim of saving taxes established by various industrialists, regardless of education. He also starts seeing his own welfare in collecting these things more than teaching. In this way, this business continues to grow and flourish under the guise of education.
In government schools and higher educational institutions, rules and regulations are still followed, which also include central schools. Appointment of teachers in these is not easy. One has to prove one’s competence and trustworthiness. Students who graduate from these schools may lag behind in the race of life, but they do not fail. The condition of all the privately run educational institutions, except for the world famous units that can be counted on the fingers, is such that no one is ready to give jobs to the students who come out of them, thanks to the degree they have obtained. The reason is that these bookworms and they too have passed by memorizing books written in the time of Baba Adam. If any of these students gets into the merit list based on their qualities and ability alone, then these institutions take full credit for it and start shouting that look how good the teachers of our institutions are that such brilliant students have come out of their institutions.
A Cycle of Education
In the name of commercialization of education, the fees of these institutions increase so much in the market of this business that a person with an average income cannot even dream of educating his children in them. There has never been a dearth of world-renowned and best teachers in our country since ancient times. They are remembered even today. The limit is reached when their names are used to make a name for themselves in the education market. Gautam Buddha, Kautilya or Chanakya, Swami Vivekananda and his guru Ram Krishna Paramhansa, Rabindranath Tagore, Savitri Bai Phule, Madan Mohan Malviya and his scientific teacher, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, educational institutions running with great fanfare in their names can be seen spreading like mushrooms all over the country. In these institutions, people from the same family take up honorable positions like Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Dean, Professor and preside over educational seminars, conferences in the country and abroad with wealth or are honored with some award.
Examination: There is a scale. There are many countries in the world where the number of teachers who have won the Nobel Prize for scientific achievements is in the hundreds. Every year the graph of people who have won the award keeps increasing. We have so far only been able to reach the number of one tenth, that is, ten, and we keep praising our education system and the quality of teachers on their heads. Here, teachers are put into management and administrative work. The fear of job security makes them do all this. Their inner enthusiasm, their patience, closeness to the students all start giving answers. This is the reason why now we do not find role models among teachers, who can be called mentors or guides. We do not find such teachers anymore, who maintain contact with the students they have taught throughout their lives or when they need help, they can easily go to the teacher. A student never forgets his teacher at any point in his life, who has scolded him with love, affection, and a stick of cane. Whenever, whether in his mature age or in the old age of the teacher, knowingly or unknowingly, such teachers have met their former students, then this meeting is not complete without getting emotional and shedding a few tears. Often such teachers are remembered, they are mentioned in mutual discussions and stories of their contribution in building one’s personality are heard and told. Their strict control and commitment towards education always remain in the memories.
Finally: It is said that the process of learning or acquiring education continues throughout life. One always finds some or the other educator, whose role is no less than that of the teacher. It also happens that one of his own people is respected andHe made his Guru with respect and he taught him a lesson that he never forgets throughout his life. Many hypocrites and hypocrites are also found in the form of teachers. Sometimes it is like coming to their senses after losing everything. On World Teachers’ Day, it is my wish that such teachers are found who can explain the criteria of good and bad, right and wrong, and truth and falsehood.
