–Dr Aseem Saxena, Faculty of Commerce, Expert in Entrepreneurship, Trainer (Soft Skills), Indore.
When a child is born at first, that child is uneducated. The home is the first school of the child and the parents are his first teachers, especially MOTHER. She teaches the first word to speak and make him/her understand the emotions, facial expressions and many other things. The mother who takes care of and shows that child what is wrong and what is right at that point is that child’s TEACHER. For the first three years the child learns everything from his mother and family – how to speak, write or understand. He recognizes the various things from the surroundings. Any knowledge or education to be gained is given them by their first teacher (their parents). Without these parents who took it up as a duty to guide and teach that child, no education would’ve taken place. After this he enters the world of education from his nursery class to his post graduation and many more. He is much fascinated with the teachers who had taught him in his primary classes, but as soon as he moves towards the higher classes, he wants to be away from the teachers through his education life.
The importance of teachers in today’s education cannot be over-emphasized as it is very evident even in our day to day encounter which is directly or indirectly affected. Though many students read alone without their teachers, yet does it mean that there is no teacher? No, of course, because that book is in actual fact, that student’s teacher. A majority of the students who read or even surf the net do that because they have been given the area of concentration, been mandated or even coerced by their teachers.
No wonder a Pakistani Activist once said, “One book, one pen, one child and one TEACHER can change the World”. If this doesn’t show that education without teacher is incomplete and is literally a futile effort, it’s hard to tell what else would, because it is easy for a student to hold a book and a pen but if a teacher isn’t there to dictate towards what direction that pen should go, then the student in question is definitely going nowhere.
A student reading a book is doing that to gain an education. No teacher might be present there physically; but in actual sense, that book is the teacher because whatever knowledge to be gained is received from that book. Education without teachers would be like a herd of sheep without a shepherd and anyone can tell what would become of such a herd, they would be devoured by wild animals. This is to be linked with the students in today’s dynamic world and age because due to the technological relief at their disposal, they display a high level of indolence towards education. When left without the guidance of a teacher, they would become reluctant to do anything related to actual learning or education, they just want to chat, play video games and they end up becoming prey to ignorance and when this happens, a shot at acquiring knowledge has been lost already.
Teachers are endowed with a lot of capabilities. “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination and instill a love of learning”. Let’s pick the first key keyword – ‘HOPE’. A teacher is capable to the fullest extent to return the lost light in a student’s life and eyes. Such capability is what yields respect from the student to the teacher and when that respect is present, the student can acquire education, one that would definitely make him something.
Teachers, once in the school are equivalent to parents. Through education, they mould the lives of the students. They show them a good path of life to follow. They change their mindset which of course is beneficial in the long run because only a willing heart really learns.
Some people see education without teachers as a good idea with the belief that they can save more if they didn’t have to pay teachers. Nothing good comes easy but “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance”. It is a very simple relationship. One needs education though it is expensive and education itself isn’t complete without teachers whether it is the teacher in the school setup, or the book that teaches, or the natural teachers like parents.
Education would never be able to go well without teachers because they play a vital role in every dimension of education as well as in the lives of the students. In today’s competitive world if you think you’re a good teacher, you might actually be wrong. Teaching skills are not measured by whether students like you or not, but by what they achieve their learning from your teaching.
In recent years many corporate had developed digital teaching and course components that can be offered online and offline. But this education is for graduate and post graduate courses. The day online courses for school students will enter this lucrative market; it will be difficult for the owners of the schools and of course teachers too. And then teachers has to upgrade and they have to digitize their teaching. If teachers themselves don’t take part in developing online teaching or teaching on smart classes, education will become standardized – Everyone will be offered the same as fast as possible.
In the high tech world, when the teachers using digital teaching programmes should continuously keep tabs on and should know how students come up with a certain answer. Based on the answers and the underlying conclusions, teachers should be able to assess the skills students still need to hone.
In the future, teaching might not be planned exclusively by teachers; rather, the work could be done in teams where software programmers will develop a system and designers focus on its appearance and usability, while teachers approach it just from the viewpoint of teaching, learning and content.
Today, many digital platforms are developed by specialists, the end result will fulfill students’ needs better than solutions developed independently by the teachers. Young students in particular are skilled and experienced users of technology, which also makes their standards and expectations very high.
Today we hear a lot about the importance of 21st century skills. Collaboration, Team work and Empathy – to what extent are these skills that are primarily acquired in the classroom, or indeed on the sports field or in the playground? Is it sensible and justifiable to imagine that a cloud-based approach to learning will permit such skills to develop in a teacher?
Even if we could ignore the importance of a school and its teachers as a centre for education, there are surely other reasons why it is important for children to attend school. Not least socialization; learning to live with each other and learning to accept responsibility, delegation and authority.
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