By Sukalpa Bhattacharjee
The theme of Teachers’ Day 2025 has been set as “Inspiring the Next Generation of Learners”. For every teacher, amidst heart warming wishes and sincere gestures of gratitude expressed by students on this day, this is also a day for reflection on our roles as mentors, educators and above all as vehicles of knowledge transmission. Any teacher, who has partially or to a large extent imbibed these roles in his or her being, would agree that genuine recognition by students is the greatest reward that a teacher can aspire for. There has been a shift of paradigm, from teaching being a mission, to teaching as a profession. In most teachers with passion for teaching, it is a judicious mixture of the mission to impart knowledge and the struggle to equip oneself professionally for meeting the challenges posed by Educational Policies on the one hand, and the radical change in socio-cultural values, on the other. However, in the present context of new experiments with educational structures, one has to address the issue of a rising sense of discontent and misgivings among the stakeholders of the education system-students, teachers and parents/guardians. Apart from issues relating to institutional policies, fees structure, syllabus, security on academic campuses and recruitment of adequately qualified teachers, etc., one of the crux issues of reflection, is the growing disconnect between the teacher, the student and the syllabus, even in a situation where classes are held regularly, teachers and students are both present. Then surely, only regular attendance cannot ensure an ideal learning atmosphere. It is understandable that an individual teacher definitely cannot address the contentious issues that are responsible for this ‘theatre of the absurd’-it is an elephant in the room. So what is that a teacher can do to minimize the growing disconnect between the major vertices of the educational system ?
In a traditional system of teaching, the classroom (or any space such as laboratory, modelled on the idea of a learning space and interaction/interface between the teacher and the taught), becomes the crucial site where the process of transmission of knowledge actually takes place). A class or a classroom is not a stereotypical space with a unidirectional flow of knowledge from the teacher to the student, where the teacher is no longer the sole possessor of a ‘secret knowledge’ that students aspire for. Traditionally, the classroom has been a contested space where the teacher always already held the epistemic centre pushing students to the periphery. However, contemporary critical pedagogy perceives the classroom as a shared liminal space of collaborative alter/native knowledge systems through a production of mutual affectation between the teacher and the students (as opposed to mere subjective emotions). This in turn opens the possibility of conceiving of classroom encounters as particularly intense sites for the making, unmaking and remaking of selves in ways that surpass theories of ‘learning’. That is, learning is less about the accumulation of knowledge and more about embodied encounters that transform the embodied selves in concrete relations.
In such a context, teaching is much more difficult than learning because teaching calls ‘to let learn’. The teacher, initiating the process of learning ‘to let learn’ must unlearn his/her own subjective inhibitions and prejudices. It is in his/her capacity to ‘let learn’ that a teacher can transform the classroom from a space of discrimination (on the basis of economic class, gender, caste, learning abilities) into a space of liberation. Black feminist author bell hooks (who writes her name in small case) has mentioned how the class (classroom) is also a space of discrimination on the basis of (economic) class, which reinforces social hierarchy in the education system. It is well known that B.R. Ambedkar also faced social exclusion in the classroom because of his caste. So in a classroom, it is the teacher who learns and unlearns more than the student in order to grow as a mentor, educator and transmitter of knowledge, particularly in the context of policy changes and against a hierarchical social system. In India, educationists such as Rabindranath Tagore and Jiddu Krishnamurthi defined teachers as ‘perpetual learners’ engaged in the process of lifelong learning- “A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame” (Tagore).Learning does not necessarily imply mechanical learning of skills and technology and piling up of certificates but learning to empathise with the student and understand the difficulty level. Understanding and integrating environmental concerns into the educational praxis, developing sensitivity towards differently-abled students, and creating inclusive learning environments are all integral components of a teacher’s professional development and ongoing learning.
Self-reflection on such a grave issue is certainly not possible without a spirit of self-criticism. And therefore, it must be admitted that in most cases, absence of empathy in the teacher is one of the most fundamental reasons for the disconnect between the teacher and the taught, and is therefore a deterrent to the learning system. Absence of empathy towards the learners is often expressed by teachers through cold indifference, coercive actions, ridicule or comparison with other learners, which affects the morale and dignity of the student. One can give a thousand reasons, some very pertinent ones for the growing absence of empathy in teachers, but nothing can justify such a stance which destroys the educational rights of a generation of learners. Many lives have been ruined because of the social exclusion that learners, especially those belonging to vulnerable age groups and marginalized social and economic strata, face in the classroom. Some permanently give up formal education, others become dropouts. Our triumph as teachers lies in retaining students in the system by identifying their strength and not by objectifying them as academic outcastes. Teachers have to share both success and failures of their students and be morally accountable. One knows from accounts of the lives of several great thinkers that morning always does not/need not show the day. Albert Einstein was labelled as a slow learner or poor student by his Principal in school due to his disdain for memorization, and the rest is history.
Therefore, teachers have the potential to be prominent agents of transformative action in the society through their role as leaders, educators and votaries of social justice. “A teacher affects eternity” is a quote by Henry Adams, which students reiterate in their speeches on every Teachers’ Day. As in the case of many other noble professions, teachers are also often not given their due (material and non-material). But teachers as committed mentors are among the few singularly blessed people, who are immortalized by their progeny (students), for the way in which teachers have touched their lives. A more inclusive education system, inspired by secular values of a Welfare State can be realized if the rights of teachers and their autonomy of free thinking can be protected by teachers themselves, standing in solidarity with each other to uphold the idea of education, with a human face.
The author can be contacted at [email protected]