class struggle

The objective of education is to train and condition the mind to function effectively in any context. The new conditions, however, constitute a challenge to teachers in their functioning. They are caught up in a battle where they are drawn between the fair ideals of education and the institutionalised educational system.


et another teacher’s day has gone by. But, there maynot be enough time for anyone to think of the teachers. There is no time for parents to even think of the teachers who slog to equip their children in various schools. Setting aside some time to compare the kind of teachers they had when they were young with those of the present age. Time has rolled by and the contexts in which the teacher has to function have changed.
The teacher of today may find himself/herself in a totally different set up from those of the yesteryear. What then are the impediments that these changed conditions have fostered? What limitations and handicaps have they imposed upon their effective functioning? Will they still be able to discharge the responsibilities that society has bestowed on them? To what extent is the situation in which the pupils find themselves a distracting factor? These are issues that need to be examined for a better understanding of the predicaments the teacher faces.
The objective of education is to train and condition the mind so that an individual can function effectively in any context. Education is supposed to provide an opportunity for personal formation, evolving a meaning system and the acquisition of skills necessary to eke out a livelihood. These broad goals have remained the same through hundreds of years.
In the traditional education system, the teacher was responsible not only for providing formal education but also to mould the character of the pupil. For the student, it was acquisition of knowledge along with the ethics of how to use it. Thus, character building was an essential part of the educative process.
But over the years, times and techniques have changed. The new conditions constitute a challenge to their functioning. The phenomenal growth of the population has increased manifold the demand for education at all levels. With demand out-matching the means and resources, the quality of education and individual attention to the pupil has suffered a serious set back. For the teacher, it is lecturing or mass instruction minus character moulding. The scope for teacher-student interaction is drastically cut.
On the home front, with the parents of first generation students being either uneducated or with minimum education, they are largely unaware of the needs and demands of modern school and collegiate education.
Further, as a matter of necessity, children spend less time with parents, either being away in hostels or having to commute long distances. In families where both the parents work, parental attention and care may be inadequate. But finally with teacher responsibility in character and value building also being non-existent, most children and adolescents have only their peers and the media to provide the role models. The students are like rudderless boats on the high seas.
In the economic arena, developments like consumerism, globalisation and market economy have had a significant influence on individual values. The influence of these changes on the education system, through indirect, has been appalling. Education is impersonalised and is acquiring the characteristics of a commercial commodity - the information technology revolution, distance education, programmed computer-based learning and the Internet - their good effects not withstanding have shrunk the role and the personalised influence of the teacher. There is abundant and easy availability of knowledge, but it is without the moral fibre that binds its use and the ethics that guide its application resulting in its dehumanisation. (The ongoing debate on the use of the knowledge of the genome is a case in point).
The average student and teacher at the collegiate and university level are neither fluent in the English language nor in the regional language. Language inadequacies are restricting the efficiency of both teachers and students alike. This is particularly so in the non-science subjects like economics, history, politics and sociology.
If students, with a communication handicap, were to become teachers, their students in turn will be handicapped and the whole thing becomes a vicious circle.
The teacher is facing another problem on campuses - politicisation of education. It has been viewed by many leaders that there is a need to create political awareness among the students. For good or bad reasons, many political parties have promoted student wings of their parties on campuses. Students also get divided on caste lines.
Apart from the routine conflicts among these groups, their desire to out beat each other in performance and fight for the cause of students rights have often brought them into confrontation with the administration, resulting in strikes, dharnas, and general unrest.
Teacher’s are often in a helpless situation and more often than not get swayed by these groups. Further, as today’s students become the research scholars and teachers of tomorrow, they carry with them their group affiliations and identities leading to a gradual politicisation of the teaching community. The net result is a flagrant distraction from the avowed goals of educational instruction. This is a growing problem in campuses and urgently needs to be addressed.
The localisation of employment, though it may have its own rationale contributes to greater inbreeding that, as in genetics, contributes among other things to accentuation of certain defects and deficiencies that ultimately form a vicious circle. The well-known good effects of hybridisation are lost. This factor acts as a handicap in the selection of meritorious teachers or students.
Many of our teachers lack adequate communication skills with regard to language fluency, technique of teaching and the use of audio-visual aids. There is a dire need and urgency for the teacher of to day to master these skills, as they constitute the backbone of his function as an effective teacher.
The impressive advance in information technology has come in handy as adjuncts to teaching. The latest developments in most subjects can be accessed through the Internet. Video and computer presentation of teaching material is available in many places. The teachers who use these techniques are able to forge far ahead of others who only "chalk and talk".
New knowledge is generated by research. Therefore, it is necessary that teachers keep themselves abreast of new developments. The goal of university is to promote research, training and dissemination of knowledge. University teachers need to not only teach but also do research and disseminate knowledge to the common man.
The foregoing are some of the many changed contexts in which the teacher of today has to function. They pose a serious challenge to his efficiency and smooth functioning in the realisation of cherished goals. Certainly, they need counsel and support through a helping hand. They need to be trained to meet the professional contingencies as they arise. In other words, the teacher needs to be trained and equipped to meet the demands of a changed educational context and be able to facilitate the transfer of knowledge-cum- values-and-wisdom.
Then, and then alone, would the teacher be able to effectively discharge the responsibility and trust, society has entrusted them with.