RESPECT FOR TEACHERS

Nov 11, 2016 Editorial, Features / Columnists

October 5, 1994, was declared World Teachers Day by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. Its aim is to recognize, applaud and celebrate the role of teachers worldwide and to mobilize support for them to ensure that the needs of children will be met by them. It is to pay teachers a little bit of extra gratitude for shaping their lives and minds of children. This year, World Teachers Day was celebrated under the theme “Valuing Teachers, Improving their Status.
Some say that teachers have what is most certainly one of the most difficult professions of any available. On any given day, a teacher is expected not only to educate at least twenty-five or more children, and even more in developing countries, in one classroom, but also do it with limited resources.
Teachers face even more pressure than is already inherent in their jobs. They often face the challenge of educating average, gifted, and special needs students in the same classroom using versions of pre-approved methods. Some of their students may not speak the language most common to their country. Others may come from fractured or abusive homes.
In Guyana, it has been acknowledged that the status and prestige that teachers once enjoyed is no more. Some claim that teachers themselves may have contributed to their diminished status by virtue of their conduct, and commitment to task. Others have questioned the code of conduct of some teachers as it relates to their mode of dress and mannerisms.
The dignity that the profession once enjoyed has been undermined in large measure by a lack of resources and the poor standard of infrastructure that teachers have had to work in over the years. This has led to teachers feeling a sense of disenchantment and disillusionment, further resulting in diminished output and commitment.
Be that as it may, society must invest in teachers by affording them the requisite training, respect and recognition commensurate with the very significant role they play in the process of educating children. But they must also know that the respect that is due to them must be earned. Most, if not all children tend to model the behaviour displayed by their teachers.
Guyana, like other countries must be prepared to treat their teachers as exemplars and they must be told this in no uncertain terms. The country must value and respect its teachers and their work. A nation that does not value and respect its teachers cannot claim to love its children. Therefore, the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers. As educators, teachers occupy one of the most prestigious positions of nation builders.
But the education system in the country is in dire need of reform. This is reflective of the theme of World Teachers Day. Fundamental changes are needed that should go beyond the current ad-hoc attempts or piecemeal approaches to improve the education system and the performance of teachers. The teaching profession, like all major professions, requires public trust and confidence. As such, investment in education is also an investment in teachers, but most important, it is also an investment in children, which should be at the very heart of the reform process.
The fact that teachers are credited with the responsibility to shape and mould the minds of children means that they should be given the tools, resources, facilities and support to fulfill their mandate.
Criticizing, rebuking or humiliating teachers will do more harm than good, in that it could destroy their egos and reduce output which will add to the vicious cycle of failures and school dropouts, the consequences of which will be felt by future generations.
Any meaningful attempt at reforming the education system in Guyana must begin with the
adequate remuneration for teachers and support and encouragement from parents and stakeholders so that they can do their jobs without threats of intimidation. The total responsibility of educating the nation’s children must be a shared responsibility. Homes must be the extensions of schools.

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One thought on “RESPECT FOR TEACHERS”

Pam November 11, 2016 at 2:26 pm

So much is expected of teachers,yet so little is given in return.

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