All Hail: 'The Parents of Our Nation!'

Ajith Perera

The definition of the word teacher is invariably beyond human intelligence. The more people find it difficult to define it, the more it highlights its supremacy, nobility, dignity, majesty and divinity of the true nature of this profession. Sages in the past with deep respect have stated that the teachers are born and not made. If the teachers of high quality are born, they are born with innate abilities, values and virtues that raise them to the standard of divinity. Consequently, no one will disagree if the teachers are defined as 'the Parents of Our Nation', 'Designers of the Future of Our Nation,' or 'the Movers of Our Nation.'

Anyone who makes attempts to define the word teacher automatically makes the same futile attempts made by the blind philosophers who were inclined to learn about the elephant. We are able to speak about the qualities or characteristics of the teacher and all these will make him or her a good teacher but the qualities we are highlighting do not have the full strength of defining who the teacher is. So therefore, let us summarize the noble idea of the teacher in this manner. The teacher is the sky, the sun, the moon, the land and everything in the universe. Let me make you believe what you are reading. The following comparisons are quite suitable and they will help you understand better.

The school or the classroom is the second world of children where the children are exposed to socialization. The teacher is the sun, the moon, the sky, the land in this particular world of children. Nature is equal for all. Similarly the teacher has to be equal for all. For example the powerful sun is equal for all. The land bears everything and the teacher bears everything for the good of her students.

Equality

The sun never says, 'I shall give more rays to 'Kurunduwatta' and less rays to 'Panchikawatta'.Any of those natural resources never says so nor does so. Similarly the teacher in the world of children must be equal for all. If the teacher is equal, she should never have favouritism at any cost. It is a disgrace upon the noble profession of teaching. Equality for all is the true nature of loving parents and that should be the nature of good teachers too. That is why the teachers are forever respected as 'Second Parents.'

From the cradle and the bosom of mothers, children are entrusted to the care of the teachers who are expected to play the role of the parents in the school. Since the mothers are the teachers at home, the teachers should be mothers at school. The mother is a symbol of love, care and impartiality. Although there are a number of spoons at home the mother uses only one spoon to serve rice to her children. Likewise, the mothers in the school should use the same spoon for all. They cannot have a set of spoons to serve their students because that demeans the nobility of their service.

Father's involvement

The teacher should be a farmer in the classroom. The farmer tills the ground equally before sowing seeds. He never tills more in certain places and less in other places. Similarly the teacher should be impartial and duty conscious to the students. Even the fertilizer is spread equally and the whole plot of land is protected from animals and birds. When a good yield is gathered the farmer is thrilled. Likewise, the teacher can be happy if she is equal for all.

In any family when the children are small the father's involvement is less in their upbringing and disciplining them. When they grow older the father too gets involved in their personality development and character formation. This universal factor is experienced in the school set up or the second home too. When the students are in their lower grades their character formation and personality development is mainly done by the lady teachers and when they grow older the involvement of male teachers in the personality development and character formation of students is very high. Both the male and female teachers (teacher parents) have to be involved in quality education and especially character formation of their students.

Those who are involved in this mighty task of character formation and personality development should not forget that they should be human in the true sense of the word. They should be filled with humane qualities and virtues. 'Nothing in creation is more beautiful than a person shining with virtue.' They should be prudent enough to accept their students as they are. They should train, mould and guide them to become good citizens. As Plato says the teachers should help the students identify who they are, accept them as they are and finally be themselves. Such teachers should be filled with spirituality blended with humanity and humility. They should be flexible for the well-being of their students. A balanced education received under the guidance of such quality teachers is very important. So therefore, the services rendered by the teachers are invaluable.

Teachers should play different roles in and out of the classroom. They have to be parents, brothers, sisters and friends. Above all they should be able to identify the heartbeat of their students and to keep their finger tip on their pulse.

Popular belief

They are the beacons and educators of society. 'Doctors bury their mistakes, lawyers imprison their mistakes but the teachers expose their mistakes to the whole of society.' Consequently we know the importance of the teachers. That is the main reason why the teachers who fulfill their duties for the well-being of their students are deeply respected in any society.

Contrary to the popular belief that teaching is a stress-free vocation teaching actually can be quite demanding at times. The teachers have to dress themselves in the cloak of lucid communicators, fair evaluators, expert managers, strict disciplinarians, healing therapists and skillful team leaders. Moreover, at times, teachers also play the role of substitute parents. Thus, the teachers should possess certain requisite qualities expected of them. This will help them elicit the best from their students and enjoy a rewarding career too. According to Aristotle the teachers do the work of mid-wives. The teachers are expected to bring the best out of their students. If the teachers are aware of these new techniques, they need not tire themselves teaching but should facilitate their students in the process of learning.

The teachers' main role is not to teach their students but to facilitate them in exploring anything new, engaging in their activities, explaining and elaborating lessons and evaluating their performances. The good teachers are not mere teachers any more but good facilitators in the teaching learning process. Teachers should make all situations learning situations. For that the teachers should be creative. To be creative the teachers should be free thinkers. To be free thinkers the teachers' minds and hearts should be free from anxieties or nervousness. Then the teachers will be pleasant before their students. That quality itself has a huge bearing in the holy process of education because children's learning means transforming their behaviour.

Dispelling darkness

The term Guru or 'Teacher' means the one who dispels darkness. One of the most important duties of devoted teachers is to dispel darkness and lead the students to light. Such teachers should show their students the way to excel in their performance at school and later in life. Do teachers guide their students to excel in their performance? On the other hand do the teachers know the correct way to guide their students? If the teachers are unaware of the correct way, how can they guide their students to light? Isn't it like a blind guiding another blind? A day like this will help the teachers to ponder.

First of all the teachers should dispel their own darkness. Regularity, punctuality, dedication, up-date knowledge, continuous professional training and human touch in imparting knowledge, inculcating values and sharpening the skills of the students are some of the main requirements of the teachers to dispel their darkness preventing them from achieving excellent. Unless they take a bold step, they can never break through their own darkness.

Felicitations

There are teachers who love their profession and they naturally love those who are involved in the teaching learning process. Others, who have opted to teaching as an easy option out of unemployment, should not be respected as teachers. These may be the ones who may create blunders and tarnish the image of noble profession of teaching. Such teachers should prick their conscience and question themselves whether they deserve felicitation on Teachers' Day? Are all those who go to the banks rich? Are all those church-goers God fearing? Are all those who go to the police station robbers? If so, are all those who call themselves teachers, real teachers and educators?

I personally believe that such teachers do not deserve any felicitation at all. Felicitations or appreciations of the good work done by the exemplary teachers should not be limited to a particular day. Those teachers who have guided their students on the path of humanity with spirituality to become real genuine human beings deserve due recognition rather than felicitation. They should be deeply respected forever. Teachers of such calibre are rewarded on earth and even in heaven.

I am one of the many who disagree with the felicitation ceremonies that are directly or indirectly backed by the teachers or the Principals because it is a shameful act that humiliates their nobility. What is expected from teachers is not encouraging any one to felicitate or gift them with materials but helping their students understand the value of their service not only to them but to the entire human society. Unless the students are made aware of this reality and make them feel for their teachers as their parents, anything done in order to felicitate teachers is useless. We as teachers should realize the truth first and make our students realize it next.

The day they begin to realize the falsehood and stupidity of what is being done and the mirage they run behind, they will earn their due recognition in their own profession. Otherwise such material-loving teachers will be dropped in the dust bin in due time.

The writer is a teacher and lecturer in Child Psychology and Classroom Management