The job of teacher is neglected till now.

By: Prem Prasad Sigdel

I have taken this sentence from Teacher Magazine which was published in Nepal in July-August 2016. I found this sentence towards the concluding part of a ‘special report’ which is translated from ‘The Economist’.  Education is the indicator of the development of any country and the job of teaching is the main agent to produce good students or professionals for the future. So the profession should be highly applauded.  

The report has given most of the references from the paper of OECD which is the number one institution of the world to deal with education and development. Besides that we have found number of examples of different countries mostly European, American and Asian countries. Mainly the report focuses on importance of training to the teachers. It has also written that the position of teacher is respectable in Finland, Singapore and Shanghai of China.

Teaching job is one of the neglected jobs in our country as is the concluding line of the report. Mostly people do this job when they don’t have other opportunities as the society also regards teacher as one of the weak, coward and incapable person to get another job. The teachers should feel that he has no capacity to do other job of being incapable or weak. So the sentence is notable here because it strikes me; it is also helpful to see the scenario of eachers in our country.

I would like to mention an experience of a lecturer who was my friend but I haven’t met him these days. He taught in one of the education campuses of Nepal in the capital city, Kathmandu and some private colleges. He told me that he had been attracted from the Korean experience of teaching. He is from Rai family and he had the experience of Korea so he started teaching career.

According to him, Korean people would regard teaching as one of the good professions. According to the report also Korean teachers are paid high in comparison to other countries. Or it is the second highest payment after Japan. The teachers have also given the right of all sorts to teach students. If students reject to read the teacher has got the right to do anything. He reported that one of the Koreans had shown him the scars on his body which happened by the beating of his teacher.

He regretted that he could do nothing to the students here. The students had sought their right first without fulfilling their duty. They have made teachers as a puppet or have fun of them. If something happens to the students, the media will focus it as the biggest issue. Media have made teachers like a great criminal rather than the poachers, corruptors, gangsters, and so on. They have made it like criminal activities and the teacher is totally discouraged. The government is also ready to punish teachers in the name of child right violation ignoring their dedication or duty.

I have experienced that the teacher is travelling on a two edged weapon in our country. On the one hand, teacher should have produce quality irrespective of other factors of the students. On the other hand, they can’t punish students at any cost. Even a trifle warning has also been taken as child right abuse. Hence teachers have been facing much problem in course of teaching. They don’t have security and the payment is also less in comparison to other jobs. Or there is no chance of bribery in teaching. So their job is on the two edged weapon either from payment or from duty perspectives. They have to work by taking high risk themselves; or there is no such institution for their support. Even the teachers’ union also can do nothing in front of I/NGO workers who have been clamoring for the right of children.

They never talk about the duty of students and parents; rather they have sought right and tried to attract money from the donor agencies. The government is too feeble to implement rules and regulations. The teachers and their jobs have been regarded as the weak and useless by the society and teachers themselves. Unless we haven’t made the teaching job more valuable we can’t expect the development of education in the country.