He has just completed six years as Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy, but Manmohan Singh still counts his time in the teaching profession as the best years of his life.
“My own years as a teacher have been the most satisfying and fulfilling in my life,” he told the national teacher awardees on the eve of Teachers' Day.
“Through teachers, flow the values and culture of a nation and its people.”
A fine balance
Dr. Singh noted that despite the age-old values of the country's education system, teachers needed to accept change in keeping with the times, maintaining a fine balance between traditions and innovation.
One of those changes is the abolition of corporal punishment in schools.
“The [Right to Education] bans corporal punishment and mental harassment. It also bans detention and expulsion. These provisions have led many teachers to question how discipline will be maintained in the classroom,” he said.
Corporal punishment
Over the past year, a number of high-profile cases of corporal punishment, even leading to death or suicide, have put the issue in the spotlight.
“The school environment should be free from fear, trauma and anxiety. No child, irrespective of caste, gender or community to which he or she belongs should dread the thought of going to school,” he added, pointing out that the attitude of teachers was crucial in making inclusive education schemes truly effective in the classroom.
Excluded
Dr. Singh noted that teachers, although on the frontlines of educational reform, were often excluded from policy-making, governance and management of our educational system.
“We must, therefore, emphasise the empowerment of teachers, and that includes real opportunity for them to share policy perspectives and decision-making,” he said.
“They gain a sense of ownership over their work and their classrooms when they are involved in the development of the curriculum, designing of the syllabus, making and selecting of teaching materials and in training programmes leading to their own intellectual and professional development.”
