Teachers who are in touch with the ground realities of how schools function are often left out while education policies are formulated.
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Dear friends, I am a school teacher, and I know that I will receive many good wishes on the 5th of September, as always. It feels good to be remembered and acknowledged once a year by so many people. And yet, I cannot help but ask a few questions about what happens in the remaining 364 days. Please bear with me while I raise just five questions: 1) Would you, dear reader, encourage your child to become a school teacher? I understand, of course, if you wouldn’t. When there are far more lucrative professions, which are also viewed with admiration and respect by society, why would you allow your child to become just a teacher? A profession that gets lauded once a year and forgotten/looked down upon for the rest of the time. Every parent will want the very best for their child, I know. In which case, what are we appreciating every year, on the 5th of September? Also read| Teachers’ Day: Artistes on the teachers who influenced them2) Why are so many of my colleagues weighed down with SIR [special intensive revision] duty this year? Several government schools have been running with a single teacher for over two months now. Teachers have even tried protesting, saying their classes are being neglected and their students need them, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. If ours is indeed a ‘noble profession’, as we are told annually on the 5th of September, why do we get sucked into such tasks? Are there no other people who can be drawn into this sort of work? 3) When the nation feels that examination reforms are the need of the hour, why is it that no school teacher is asked his/her view? Doubtless, respected luminaries in the domain of IT and research presently constitute committees that look into the changes needed; but just as you would ask doctors to examine what went wrong in a medical case, why don’t you ask school teachers to offer their input on making examinations more meaningful? 4) That brings me to a larger question: when National Education Policies are drafted, how many school teachers are invited to be on the panel? Surely they are the best people to seek input from, seeing how they are in touch with ground realities day in and day out. Instead, why are such committees comprised of leading experts in all domains except school teaching? Perhaps it is believed that anyone who has been taught can also teach? 5) And this brings me to my final question: Do we honestly think that school teaching is no rocket science? That anyone can teach? If we do, then why wasn’t each of our own school teachers good, if not excellent? I know that that was not so. Surely that is enough proof of the fact that teaching – like any other profession – demands a specific skill set and knowledge base, which needs to be acquired by a school teacher before they can be good at their job.These are my five questions for you. I would love to know if any one of them resonates with you. If even one does, then I am pretty sure you will pause and think twice before joining the nation in making the usual pronouncements on this Teachers’ Day. A puzzled and frustrated school teacher, Neeraja Raghavan (Neeraja Raghavan is the Founder-Director of Thinking Teacher, and an author of several books. She has over two decades of teaching experience and has taught in both mainstream and alternative schools. Her current focus is on teacher development. Views expressed are personal.) Published - September 05, 2026 07:30 am IST
