REBUILD NALANDA NOT TO SETTLE PAST SCORES BUT TO BUILD GLORIOUS FUTURE

Teaching has always been considered a noble profession. My own years as a teacher have been the most satisfying and fulfilling in my life. Through teachers flow the values and culture of a nation and its people. Teachers’ own value system, their character and their behaviour directly influence our children. But, misinformation and limited learning behaviours, that children sometimes internalize, can also be traced back to teachers’ lack of knowledge, poor understanding, or biases. We must guard against these negative features.

Teachers are invariably seen as front-line participants in educational reform, critical to successful quality schooling in our country. But, sadly, teachers are often excluded from policy-making, governance and management of our educational system as also from day-to-day instructional strategies and decision making. In our endeavour for educational reforms we must, therefore, emphasize the empowerment of teachers and that includes real opportunity for them to share policy perspectives and decision-making in pursuit of educational development and reforms. All teachers are creative, talented people; teachers respond remarkably when they are respected and included in the decision-making integral to their work in the classroom. 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.

One critical area that all teachers must reflect upon is equality and inclusiveness of our educational system. Numerous programmes have been initiated in our country that focus on equality and inclusiveness paying particular attention to the girl child, or children from the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe or minority communities, or for differently-abled children with special needs and problems. Such programmes will result in an empowered youth and citizenship, only if their teachers are empowered supporters of equality and inclusiveness. If efforts to increase student access, learning and retention in elementary and secondary education are to succeed and make headway, relevant and empowering teacher education is of critical importance. This is particularly true of women teachers who must serve as positive role models for our society at large.