The guru shishya parampara in India is an ancient and revered practice. The ancient texts speak about how students used to live with their teachers, and learn what has to be learnt. They learnt the skills of their trade and left the ashram only when the teacher felt that they were equipped to handle their designated roles in society. During this tenure, students were monitored emotionally and psychologically by the guru. The guru knew the strengths and weaknesses of each and every student and hand held him individually; modifying course content till the desired level of proficiency was reached by the student. Education was personalised, the guru was committed and the student was devoted lifelong.
Is the situation today the same? We read and hear of students turning against their teachers. Recently there was a case in Chennai where the teacher was killed by a student. This only brings me to the question ‘Why this kolaveri, di?’ (Which I have been told means why this murderous rage?)
A friend, also a parent of two growing teenagers recently commented, “Its difficult being a kid nowadays. Clothes, mobiles, game machines, academics, the lack of role models and the competition: all are there out for a child to face.” And all this bottles up in the child sometimes converting itself into rage: a rage that is also the culmination of unheard and stifled voices. In classrooms with around seventy kids teachers lack the time, resources and patience to listen to each and every student.
How do we help our teachers work around such situations?
Someone once said, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” I beg to differ. Teaching is a highly specialised field dealing with the future of several generations to come. Each teacher in her career deals with a minimum of 15 generations. So one can only imagine the impact a teacher has in the life of a nation at large. Teacher education and in service teacher training is highly essential for our teachers to be able to handle the emotionally charged students of today. Teachers need to be people who are trained and equipped to handle these high pressure jobs. They need to be content masters and at the same time pedagogically sound to handle the emotional outbursts of their students.
The responsibility of the well being of a student is surely a combined one and it is up to the both the stakeholders i.e. the parents and the school to meet and discuss the issues that plague the child. Rarely is the initiative taken by the school or the teacher. And this is largely, not just because of the heavy workload of teachers but due to the lack of appropriate training for the teacher. The teacher needs to be trained to have a discerning eye to notice any voice of dissent in any student and initiate to resolve this with the student and the parents.
In-service training is highly essential to maintain the quality of teachers. During pre-service training most student-teachers are just out of their youth and do not usually have the maturity and life experience to take on the mantle of other lives. But as they go ahead in their career, they get trained by the job and by their interaction with their students. And this is where in-service training is very important. As teachers move ahead in their careers, they tend to get rigid and fixed about their ideas, their teaching practices are rarely renewed and their mind sets get reinforced. Refresher courses are essential to into their lives new theories of education, the latest trends in the educational field and ideas that will help break existing mind sets. A constant regeneration of ideas helps bridge the gap between the teacher and the student. What we need to remember is that the age gap between the teacher and the student is increasing with every passing year and the teacher deals with increasingly younger age groups. If the connect between the teacher and the student is not renewed time and again then the generation gap will stare into the face of the teacher.
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