There is no point attending the class; this subject is so boring and useless; what I have learned in this course has changed my life; It is a one hour class but it seems like it is an unending agony; I wish this semester would not end because then I will not be able to have sociology in the next semester; we all are familiar with these exclamations in our student times. Attending classes and giving exams is always the bane of studies and it becomes a nightmare when those who are taking those classes or exams are people we are averse to. There is so much debate about the standard of education and facilities available in Pakistan. Most people agree that the number of educational institutions at all levels and the facilities in them are below standard. However bricks and mortar does not make institutions, people do.
If education is low in the national priorities, teachers and their development is low in education priorities. The hallmark of any great teaching institution is its ability to have teachers who teach and develop the intellect of the student. It is a known fact that great institutions in the world are renowned for their teaching quality that is symbolized by some names who become legends in their field. School of Business at Harvard was famous for having names like Michael Porter and the Aitchison College for years boasted about Kashmiri Sb. Every student can recall two teachers - one who scared him and one who inspired him. Early schooling is entirely driven on a personal memory of the child. Even if the play grounds are wonderful and the nursery rhymes musical, an unloving teacher is the best way of making the child dislike the school and develop an aversion to school and to education.
Teachers are the supposed nation builders and as such should be the main focus of budgets, development, monitoring and assessment. Their role in unleashing the true potential of a child, or a teenager or even a PhD graduate is crucial. A true teacher has to be a subject graduate but also a person who is genuinely interested to interest the students; he or she is able to transfer knowledge in a variety of interesting ways that engages the scarce and overloaded attention spans of students; he or she is able to build the student's confidence and personality; he or she is able to provoke new thought processes in the student's brain and he or she is able to inspire the student to explore more, analyze more, learn more, try more, do more, and aspire for much more.
This is a tall ask and thus requires people with special skills and attitude to join this profession. However, in Pakistan this profession is not really considered a profession. For the public school teachers it is a free seat in return of some political connection, and, in private schools a stop gap job for people wanting to use it as a pass time till they get a better job. With this attitude prevailing the profession of teaching is a parking lot for all those who have nothing better to do or to apply to. The profile of a public school teacher is of a Machiavelli sadist who is happy by giving corporal punishment. Every now and then we see videos of children being thrashed by almost inhuman people. Attendance of the teachers is a toss of a coin and monitoring of their quality zilch. In private institutions, the standards may be better but most teachers are either part time additional income seekers or just going through the syllabus in the most boring and traditional manner.
A report released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) highlighted the need for Pakistan to focus on equipping teachers with the skills needed to fulfil their responsibilities. A case study commissioned for the report about Pakistan highlighted a lack of accountability in Pakistan's teaching requirements, citing political interference, nepotism, ghost teachers and non-transparent practices. Some improvement has been made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where teachers are now being hired through a merit system of National Testing Service, ensured attendance by to bio metric monitoring system and evaluated on biometric testing system, with rewards for the first time for teachers who have been able to get better results and grades in their relevant subjects.
On the other hand the race in schools to get the highest grades and the pressure at home by parents to score enough for good college placements has turned educational institutions as assembly lines of machines producing outputs on standards. The teacher's focus on claiming the best grades is fine but has to be balanced with the development of positive attitude and behavior. Teachers are considered the main input within schools for helping students learn. The positive impact of a high-performing teacher is not limited just to test scores. A student's exposure to a high-performing teacher for as short as one school year can be enough for long-lasting, positive effects on future education, employment, and earning's outcomes.
To make teaching a sought-after profession which attracts the most competitive talent, teachers need to be paid at market rates and trained continuously for more development with clear cut career paths. If we really want the best to take teaching seriously we have to give them a serious status. In Germany teaching is one of the highest paid professions. When the German Chancellor Angela Merkel was asked by Judges, doctors and engineers for the same salary as teachers, she replied "how can I give you the same as those who taught you". No wonder Germany today is a role model state of development in Europe. While most economies are finding it difficult to survive Germany has become a nation that has constantly developed on the basis of its investment in its knowledge intensive industries with almost 3% of its budget going into research and development. In an era where knowledge and information is power those who transmit, transfer and transform knowledge ie teachers have to be the people who need to be nurtured, nourished and developed to drive nations on this information highway. As they say teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions. (The writer can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com)