Strikes, teachers and nation building

TEACHERS STRIKES: The focus these days is very much on our system of education. In a nation like ours where knowledge is an important commodity, it is not unusual. However, we are not on a discourse to improve our schools system or curricula or for that matter, forecasting what education should deliver in the future.

We are engaged in a national issue about token strikes and refusal to mark examination scripts by teachers. “Can teachers afford to behave like any other group of workers in Government?”

Teachers in the State run education system are employees of the government, and therefore, have the right to resort to trade union action as guaranteed by our own laws and international covenants.

Then, it implies that they are also permitted to stage ‘strikes’ as a part of their trade union agenda. Strangely, such trade union acts by teachers affect the most important segment of our population, the schoolchildren. It affects 4 million children who are in the government schools.

This is where the dilemma is. Teachers cannot behave as any other group of government employees. They cannot behave like a labour union at the Colombo port. Teachers are a special lot in our public service with

 the most important responsibility on their hands. They mould a whole nation and hence are known as nation builders.

Quite apart from the valuable ‘education time’ students lose, there is another aspect that has to be considered. Students, more often than not, like to emulate teachers. Many a student would look up to their teacher as a role model.

Many students mimic their favourite teacher. Impact a teacher can make on his (or her) wards is tremendous. Unfortunately, therefore, when teachers go on strike, doesn’t that send a strong message to the student population to emulate their mentors? Naturally, it does.

They learn an important lesson from their teachers; stop work, protest and jeopardize the work one is entrusted to do. When others in government strike, the beneficiaries of their service suffer. But in the case of teachers, the whole nation suffers.

It’s no wonder, then, we are becoming a nation of strikers. That is what is seen in school. Our teachers are imparting an important skill to their pupils; how to protest and show their displeasure when there is a dispute in the salaries or work situations.

Generation after generation would learn from their mentors what to do; protest, strike and disrupt the work. These actions of teachers are going to have a lasting effect on the entire student population.

The refusal of teachers, spurred by their trade unions, to mark the ‘A’ level answer scripts of nearly 200,000 students is a national crime. Marking of ‘A’ level answer scripts is a monopoly enjoyed by a certain group of teachers in the education system. Not all teachers can do it.

But to hold it as ransom is unpardonable. Whom are they trying to victimise? Not the government, but the innocent students. Students have done no wrong to the striking teachers.

They still revere these teachers. There must be another way to protest rather than keeping away from marking answer scripts. One would certainly support the teachers in this issue if for instance allowances paid or any other condition governing marking of scripts had flaws. In the present case, they are keeping away because they claim that there is some anomaly.

Teachers may have various grievances. These grievances have to be resolved by not putting the students into any inconvenience, because it irreversibly affects the whole life of students.

The teacher trade unions spurred by political considerations must be behind this fiasco, but the right thinking citizens do not condone these irresponsible acts of the teachers. The unions must become more responsible than this and not make the students suffer.

In the good old days, we never heard of our teachers striking and refusing to mark answer scripts or refusing to invigilate public examinations. They were also not unionized to the extent they are today.

The few unions that existed then acted responsibly and never put the students into difficulties. The teachers of yore never considered teaching just a vocation. For them, it was a noble profession that contributed to the well-being of the nation.

There is no doubt that it is the noblest of all professions. Unfortunately, teachers of today haven’t the faintest idea of what they are and their contribution to the society.

Nations don’t get formed by themselves; they need building. They are not like icebergs that get formed without anyone’s help. Strong, stable nations have been carefully built over many centuries by concerned citizens of those nations. Foremost among the nation builders are the teachers.

They mould every pupil into a useful human being. Students are like uncut diamonds and it is the teacher who does the cutting and polishing to make them invaluable human beings. Teachers undoubtedly are a nation’s life blood and without them there will not be a nation.

As this column has pointed out earlier, education is heading for disaster. We complain about the quality of our schools. In other words, we are lamenting about lack of good teachers in our system.

On top of it, when education is disrupted and students are deprived of their learning opportunities, it becomes a heinous crime.

When results of public examination are delayed, it is the students who have to pay the price; they will lose employment opportunities, their higher education will get postponed, once-in-a-lifetime chances will be lost and the knowledge of the nation as a whole will plummet to low levels.

Let strikes and striking be limited to manual and unskilled labour. Teachers must rise above petty levels and not resort to disruption of the work they are entrusted to do. If teachers have grievances, they must be taken up without insulting the profession.

But, teachers too should make fair demands and not demands that will make the entire public service topsy-turvy. Government too must understand the importance of the teachers for the well-being of our nation and develop a dialogue that will make minds meet.

Teachers in our public schools must not forget the host of privileges they enjoy vis-…-vis other public servants. Although teachers have a five-day week, they do not work an eight-hour day.

They have a lot of time for themselves because schools close at 2 p.m. the latest. Whilst other public servants have no time for themselves on a normal week day, teachers have ample time for themselves. That’s why most teachers will ‘run’ home after school to be in time for their private tuition class. That brings them ‘tax free’ outside income.

Another benefit teachers enjoy is the large amount of holidays. The school vacation three times a year amounts to close upon 2 months. In reality, teachers are paid for twelve months when they have to work only nine or ten months. Therefore, when teachers’ unions make demands, they must keep all these things in mind.

When young people get into the teaching profession having obtained their university degree or the National Diploma in Teaching obtained from a College of Education, the nobility of the profession must be inculcated into them.

It must be grilled into them that they are not just employees, but the builders of the nation. The ethics, moral values, thoughts and knowledge they pass on to our younger generation is what will make our nation strong ultimately. If they lose sight of this and shirk their responsibility, we will be doomed as a nation.

The Ministry of Education has a responsibility that none other has. They are responsible for the inculcation of the values in our nation. Every teacher counts for this unenviable exercise, and it is the Ministry of Education that will have to ensure that teachers don’t become a disgruntled lot.

Teachers have always enjoyed a premium position in our society and that must not be eroded. Whilst they have to receive a decent salary to be able to maintain them with dignity, governments cannot ignore the fact that their salaries cannot be considered in isolation.

Now that we have seen a host of issues surrounding the teachers, the Government will do well to direct the Ministry of Education to have a dedicated group of officials to resolve many outstanding issues that teachers constantly complain about. The teacher unions also will have to rethink their modus operandi and behave more responsibly than they do now.

Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the naturals, the ones who somehow know how to teach.

Peter F. Drucker

The Reformist