I had once overheard a conversation of a group of people in a café. (No, I don’t go snooping around, it was just a very interesting conversation.)

Anyway.

The conversation went like this,

Lady 1: “Oh I need a break from my busy routine. Vacation droughts, long working hours, workload…aargh! I wish I was a teacher!”

Lady 2 (chimes in): “Me tooo! The job is so easy and the timings? You can be at home in the afternoon. How cool is that? I have almost forgotten what a sunset looks like!”

Gentleman 1: “Ha ha ha…true that! Plus schools have so many holidays. And of course, you can take up teaching kindergarten, maybe. No Biggie!”

And they all burst into laughter!

After all the judgmental tee-hee and giggling was done, they left. But I was stuck on just one expression

– No Biggie.

Is a teacher’s job, a no biggie? That’s what society thinks?

Teachers play an important role in shaping a child’s future, and this profession is seen as an option for holidays? An option for getting home early? A no biggie?

Teaching is one of the noblest professions ever and this occupation deserves respect than labels of stereotypes around. Sometimes we see parents reaching out to the therapists about their child’s manipulation, rebellious behaviour or when they don’t stand a specific behaviour.

Can you imagine the pressure a teacher has to go through dealing with say 60 different kinds of minds at a time, every single day?

A child spends most of his or her time at the school. That means, most of the child’s character is built in the school, block by block, each day, till they develop their entire personality. Who helps to keep those blocks stable and not come rumbling down? A teacher, of course.

Being a school teacher is a huge responsibility and it is a very challenging job. It is certainly NOT a no big deal kind of a job?

Top 5 Teacher Problems That Hinders Effective Teaching:

#1

The Psychology

The perception of the society towards teachers juggles between respect and the above conversation. People want good teachers in their lives but accepting teaching as a profession is still not the first option. Social judgments are the first challenge before teachers, especially these days. Let’s go to the conversation above. The people in the conversation above were in their late twenties, of generation Y. (that’s why maybe the expression, Why God Why?) Millennials know what is growing up towards progression but held back by regression. So this psychology is a mixture of the past stereotypes and the present-day conclusions.

The education system that cradles engineers, doctors and IAS fail to understand how will they become engineers, doctors, and IAS in the first place?

Obvious question overshadowed by ignorance, isn’t it?

In most of the cases, you see women taking up teacher’s job under many reasons like, need more family time, need to look after a newborn baby, less working hours, more holiday, can come home anytime etc. This is the foremost hurdle that stops this profession from moving forward and standing in the line of the most preferred career options.

#2

Parent-Teacher (Mis) Communication

One of the many challenges of teaching is (mis) communication with the parents. Some parents tend to interfere with the teaching methods. They love to blame school teachers for everything that goes wrong with the child’s academics. Every PTA, you can see these parents complaining about how a teacher failed in teaching the child correctly leading him or her to scoreless. The conversation is filled with complaints that come out of over-protectiveness and less about the concern of why isn’t the child interested in studying. Now, there is another set of parents existing who are clueless about what is happening in their child’s life. They think that schooling is like a scheduled train you have to be on-board and treat it as a routine. Teachers have to explain every tiny detail to such folks suddenly having to don the coat of a therapist (but with a meagre salary.)

Furthermore, some parents who concentrate only on the child’s academics generally tend to ignore all the other advice the teacher is giving about alternative methods of studying (for an instance). Everything goes into oblivion but the scorecard. Thus, these type of behaviours forms a big gap in communication between teachers and parents. Filling the gap becomes one of the biggest challenges of teaching.

#3

Being Underpaid

I remember when I was a student, many of my friends wanted to become a teacher. My class teacher was an amazing mentor with great teaching skills; she was an inspiration to many. Slowly as time passed and they became old enough to understand the practicalities of life, their dream career just disappeared behind the options rewarding them of lifelong financial security. That’s how herds are formed and this mentality continues to haunt for generations. Teachers of both private and government schools are paid way less than what their peers would earn in an MNC and that’s what holds people back in dreaming about becoming a teacher, for real.

#4

Over Burdening

This ranks as one of the major problems faced by teachers in India. Over-crowding every class, precisely every division with say 60 students and glorifying commercialization of education is the new black of the education market. Thus, all the ideas teachers have for effective classroom management disappears in the chaos of a large number of students in the class. This degenerates the quality of education, ultimately blaming the teachers for the mismanagement of the school administration. Every student has different learning abilities, and it becomes problematic for teachers to control and make such a big crowd understand the concepts in one go at the same time. This also affects the teacher-student relationship.

#5

Lack of Training and Resources

One of the major reasons why teaching as a profession takes a back seat is because of the lack of good educational institutes and universities for teachers. I addition to that, teachers do not receive proper training from the schools as well. The schools should organize workshops and training sessions for the teachers after regular intervals involving the latest educational practices, innovative teaching methods and also to discuss the problems teachers face in the classroom openly with the school management.

Recently with a lot of buzz around, the National Education Policy 2019 has shown a ray of hope by including the following two points:

• The Committee proposes for massive transformation in Teacher Education by shutting down sub-standard teacher education institutions and moving all teacher preparation/education programs into large multidisciplinary universities/colleges.
• The 4- year integrated stage-specific B.Ed. The program will eventually be the minimum degree qualification for teachers.

Being a teacher is like brightening the children’s path when they think it is pitch dark out there. Teachers are like second parents and as children look up to their parents, they look up to their teachers too. They not only play an important role in a child’s academics but in moulding their minds to become good human beings.

“Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, calibre, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honour for me.”

-Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

It is our responsibility to reduce these challenges born from the stereotypes the society is famous for and give this profession its due respect and credit. Let’s start from #1 and progress to make this profession, one of the most sought-after professions in the country. Yes, you can do this for that teacher who made you believe in yourself and doesn’t you think that’s the most important quality to be successful?

Every small step towards change taken today counts for a better tomorrow!.

Also Read: A Fond Ode To All Teachers And The Art Of Teaching

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