Dr. M L Ngullie
This article is written in the context of teaching in the Undergraduate level in the state of Nagaland. It is based on the responses of the people from various walks of life who expressed their personal opinions on the teaching profession. The attitude of the general public towards college level teachers and the real situation the teaching community go through may be studied in the form of Myth and Reality as is elaborated below:
1. Teachers know everything: There is a popular belief that teachers are highly educated. They have the knowledge of almost everything that they are or should be walking encyclopedia. Since they are under constant study and observation of the social situations they are expected to know everything. The reality, however, is that they are also human beings and they cannot know everything. Their “scholarship” is confined to their subject which is a small area of knowledge. Except for a few well-read individuals, teachers may not have knowledge of many subjects. Even mastering his/her own subject itself is very difficult task to accomplish.
2. Teachers don’t need preparation for taking class: Many people think that teachers (especially senior ones) do not need to study or prepare for teaching in the class because they have already mastered every lesson in the first few years of teaching. In other words, once a teacher learns a lesson he need not study again. This is based on the theory that “human beings don’t forget”. But the reality is that teachers do forget and they need re-learning of the lesson. Further, the problem of forgetting occurs more as he ages more. So he needs to revise the lessons before every class, improvise it and present it in a more systematic way for which he needs to study. A lesson prepared last year cannot be delivered this year effectively unless revised freshly. The subjects also keep on growing as there cannot be a static body of knowledge. Therefore, a teacher is expected to update himself continually. Likewise the study materials also need to be updated on continuous basis. As Syllabi keep on changing and revising, a teacher needs to study daily. Sometimes new papers are also introduced in the college without any information/orientation of the teachers. Still the teachers have to somehow learn the new subject and teach. Sometimes the teachers are compelled to teach certain papers which they themselves have not offered in the University, but still they have to somehow prepare and teach for which they have to make extra effort. Year by year more smart students join the institutions. Such pupils compel the teachers to be on their toes. They have to put extra effort or they may be put in a messy situation. The most terrifying situation in everybody’s life is to stand before a group of intellectuals unprepared. This element of fear makes the teachers to prepare their lessons very carefully. Hence teachers are required to prepare for every class.
3. Teachers are the most pampered of all employees: Many people think that the college teachers are highly paid and that every teacher is getting salary more than One lakh rupees per month. While it is agreeable that government teachers are well looked after, every teacher do not get salary above or nearing a lakh rupees except those very senior teachers who are on the verge of retirement. They get Central scale no doubt, but allowances are all state’s so that in comparison with Central University teachers their salaries are quite minimal. On top of that many of the college teachers are working under Adhoc or Contract service drawing fixed salary of hardly 20 to 30 thousand rupees. The rest of the teachers are working in private sector drawing “peanut salary” that they are hardly able to make both ends meet. Hence terming the teachers as the most pampered lot may be somewhat an exaggeration.
4. College Teachers have very less class: Yes, compared to school teachers, undergraduate college teachers have limited number of classes. Say, two to three classes a day. According to UGC norms, fifteen to eighteen classes a week only that works up to 3/4 classes daily. This seems very easy. But then the amount of preparation a teacher has to do before taking the class is something to be reckoned with. People tend to count teaching job only on the basis of actual class taken. They do not see beyond this. But as mentioned above, behind the 45 minutes class there is hours and hours of study and preparations they do at home and in libraries. People as well as the employers do not recognize this. Just as there is no end to improvement of roads and bridges there is no end to preparation of lessons. For one hour class, at least 2 to 3 hours of preparation is required. Sometimes after spending 4 hours browsing the shelf, one realizes that he still has not found the right material for a lesson. At other times after studying many hours for the first paper, he still has to study more for the next paper. After going through the 6/7 prescribed books he becomes thoroughly confused as to which book he should use as a base book. Then the real hour for study comes but then again, sometimes, for some lessons, having read the material several times over, still doesn’t get registered in his mind. And so, after studying for 5/6 hours he goes to class half prepared, less confident and more terrified. Beyond the normal classes, teachers are expected to mentor students. During the class hours both students and teachers do not have time to talk and interact. So they meet after the class is over. Apart from this, the teachers are assigned different tasks to help in the administration of the college. They are involved in different committees, co-curricular activities for campus life enrichment. Teachers are also involved in research and extension activities which forms essential part of their career advancements. At home in the evening, a teacher is busy preparing for the next day that he cannot afford to watch his favorite Hindi Serial. So when other members of the family talk about it he keeps on asking “who is she?” “ what is it?” and they ridicule him calling names. Such is the life of a teacher and so it is quite partisan to say that teachers are underemployed in any manner.
5. College Teachers get many holidays: It is generally believed that teachers get many holidays and that they get a lot of leisure time to spend with their loved ones and do many private works. However, of late, the word “vacations” is replaced by “Semester Break”. During such periods classes are suspended but that does not mean the teachers’ works have ceased. They spend their semester break evaluating the answer scripts, preparing the result, making the routine and teaching plans for the next semester and so on. After all these jobs are done, they begin to prepare their lessons for the next session. Thus for the teachers there is not vacation at all irrespective of the popular belief.
6. Conclusion: The above discourse shows that there is a gap between peoples’ perspective towards teaching profession and the actual condition prevailing on the ground. Apart from these points there are also many other areas where the general thinking of the people towards teaching profession in the college level is not in line with the actual happenings. This “gap”, if not managed, may lead to making teaching a “misunderstood profession”. Already some semblance of such actions, are being surfaced slowly. For example, there have been many movements for banning private tuitions or fixing upper limit of such fees of the tutors in the past, whereas many medical practitioners take non-practice allowance and still do private practice but nobody raises finger or complain about their fees. Such disparity in treatment among different professions, occur mainly due to misunderstanding of a particular profession. Hence, effort should be made to educate the public on the nature of different professions and the necessity to treat them equably.
