Our Kids Deserve Better education. Our Teachers Deserve Better pay. Schools are underperforming. The power to counteract this is within our grasp, but we are too busy fighting political battles. The most valuable commodity we have is our children, and the future is inextricably tied to them. Unless we provide our children with a world-class education now, we will suffer later, when they are unable to lead or compete in the global economy.
Administrators- Take ten minutes out of your day and talk to a high school dropout. Ask them why they dropped out? The answers that you get will give you valuable insight into what is wrong with Education system. Our kids deserve better.
There has to be praise where it is due. Delhi government wants to make Government schools in the national capital as good as the private schools. This is commendable and other States too should follow suit. However, this should be done in a manner in which the independence of private schools and colleges is not harmed.
Right to Education Act brings social classes together and the lower strata to the main stream. The bad thing is that it compromises the quality. The students automatically are promoted to 8th standard whether they deserve it or not. "Some education is better than quality education is perhaps the idea. It's time for some serious tweaking and reforms in RTE.
Reservations have indeed helped several communities move out of backwardness. There is nothing wrong in affirmative action programs, but the reason why so many communities want to be declared as 'backward' points to the fact that the system needs some serious tweaking. Clearly, India's education system is not serving its young people.
Teachers are educated to educate people, and to create a difference in the world of knowledge. For the teacher's profession, the pay game doesn't seem to play fair. Higher salaries and a regular job would act as motivational tools for teachers to stay committed.
In my mind education is the noblest of professions. This places our teachers at the forefront of molding young minds into the next generation of doers, thinkers, creators, leaders, and entrepreneurs. If there is ever a profession that should be revered as much as that of a doctor who saves lives it is that of a teacher.
There is a common fallacy that school administrators are the leaders of change. This makes a great sound bite, but the reality is that many individuals in a leadership position are not actually working directly with students. Teachers are the true catalysts of change. Teachers need trust and support, because their role is creative, complex and challenging.
Teachers are ordained builders of society. If education is a tower, then teachers are its pillars. Basically, teachers are multi-tasking professionals involved in activities such as administration, teaching, monitoring students' performances, ensuring safety and security, etc. but go monetarily unrecognized. This is real and annoying. They deserve the best and more.
The writer is former director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology
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