Read how you can use Careerizma for self branding.

   

 Careers  Industries  Skills

Here's how you Problems faced by Indian Stay

Connected
can improve your
teachers in the classroom and
career.
outside  

By  Yasmeen Hossain on  October 20, 2016 Tags  Categories   

Each year as India celebrates Teacher’s day with fanfare and epiphany by
glorifying this noble profession with expressions of gratitude, I simply
wonder why this admiration dies down for the rest of the year.

Poet Kabir narrated the importance of teachers in his couplet:

Guru gobind dou khade, kaake lagoon pay. Balihari guru aapne
gobind diyo batay

(Guru and God both are here to whom should I first bow? All glory be unto
the guru, path to God who did bestow).

Unfortunately these gurus have become the scapegoat for all lacunas that
our education system is plagued with. This brings to an important question
as to why teachers are not respected in India and what daily battles they
wage for survival irrespective of whether they are working in a government
school or an international curriculum school.
As a teacher these are my reflections to this question based on my personal
experience and my interaction with my colleagues.

Problems and challenges faced by Indian

teachers in the classroom and outside

Professional status of teaching

Teaching is not considered as one of the most sought after career in India;
hence the primary challenge is to raise the status of teaching as a career
choice. This stems from the general perception that people harbor about this
profession which is, that anyone can become a teacher as it takes minimal
skill and is nothing but glorified baby–sitting.

Well, to some extent it is true as a non competitive teacher really has

minimal skills whereas a good teacher has leadership skills which can even
challenge a senior manager of a company. This status can also be attributed
by our hiring process in B.Ed programs.

Professor Geoff Masters, Chief Executive of the Australian Council for

Educational Research (ACER) states that the top performing countries in
PISA test like Finland, Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong consistently attract
top 30 per cent of school leavers.

In fact in South Korea and Finland teachers are selected from the top 10 per
cent which means in such countries competition for entry to teacher
education program is intense. Only one in 10 applicants is accepted to study
to become a primary teacher in Finland.

This shows the respect that teachers possess in these countries as only the
best and the brightest of the lot are in this profession, naturally conferring it
to be one of the most highly regarded professions.

In India this tradition of hiring the best is practiced by Teach for India,
Gandhi fellowship etc by recruiting the best college graduates or even
corporate honchos with exemplary leadership skills as teaching fellows in
their fellowship programme.

In my social circle whenever I mention my profession, my friends respect me

not because of my profession but because I chose to be a teacher instead of
what my fancy college degree expected me to become. My degree made me a
good teacher by default.
This I feel is the greatest disrespect to the profession and to all those
teachers out there who are there by choice and are doing a great job. The day
when everyone understands that a good teacher is one who is not only a
fountain of knowledge but also an agent of change and leader, would lead to
a breakthrough in this existing perception.

Financial compensation
As mentioned in my previous article teaching is one of the most underpaid
jobs barring some schools which strictly adhere to pay commission of scales.
Even appreciation in form of financial incentive is not a very popular
culture.

These problems are not restricted to government or low cost private schools
but also to posh international schools were the average annual fee structure
of a student ranges from Rs.6 Lakhs to 10 Lakhs. The school management
and board of directors mostly prefer cheap labour.

Again this is because of the low professional status of teachers in our society.
The teaching profession is dominated by women and we see very less men
who prefer being a teacher. Women are not considered as the primary
breadwinner of a family and hence their compensation is abysmally poor
compared to the fee structure that these international school charge.

The biggest irony lies in the fact that these schools celebrate Women’s day
with great pomp and splendor even though more than 90% of the women
workforce in these schools are financially dependent on their husband for
expenditure like car loan, education loan etc as their salary is almost one
tenth of what their husbands earn in MNC. The school salary is just like
pocket money for them.

It’s high time that teachers need to value their self esteem and take control
of their situation rather than contributing to this vicious circle. One should
always update their networking skills to be placed in the best of the
organization rather than compromising on self respect and injustice.

Commercialisation of education
The general Indian mentality believes that privatization is the solution to
everything dysfunctional in our country. This public perception stems from
the status quo that an Indian family enjoys when they send their children to
these ‘Modern temples of education’ which have air conditioned classrooms,
buses and infrastructure equivalent to a five star resort like tennis court,
swimming pool etc.

It gives immense pride to parents and an opportunity for them to gloat

about the fact that their children go to school where students are well
dressed, their classmates come from the elite strata of the society and most
important they are ‘English medium schools’.

So how do these superficial markers affect teachers?

Most of these elite private schools are established by real estate developers
or politicians who do not have an iota of idea what education is all about. For
them education is nothing but a means to amass a huge fortune.

They forget the golden lines of Padma Shri Dr. D.B Pathak who said:

Education should not be a business but it should be run like a

business.

Goddess Lakshmi is more venerated as compared to Goddess Saraswati

which means these schools are open to year round admissions whose
parents pass the merit of possessing a hefty bank balance. Entrance test are
generally not conducted and academic merit is not the driving factor for
admission.

The responsibility falls on teachers to churn the best out of the non
performing students and it is their responsibility to raise a student’s
performance and to equate it with the rest of the class if the student joined
the school in the fag end of the academic year.

Most of all, VIP treatment and excessive molly cuddling is expected from a
teacher which also includes malpractices like promoting students even when
they have failed in major academic subjects to retain admissions and prevent
financial loss. This is really detrimental to a teacher’s moral who believes
and practices idealism, honesty and fair practice.

Lack of motivation and support

Teachers don’t have a voice and have no say about educational policy. The
concept of motivated teacher is also a flawed one because most of them feel
that a motivated teacher is one who is regular to school every day, follows
official protocols blindly without questioning and if necessary provide
information that management team wants!
The real focus shifts from student learning outcomes to complying orders as
fount fit by the administrative department relegating teachers to a mere
stature of puppets who have no voice.

Ms. Seema Bansal of Boston Consulting Group mentioned in TED Talk that
one of the issues faced by teachers in Haryana is not that they are
incompetent but they were expected by supervisors to supervise the
construction of classrooms, toilet, mid day meal or depositing scholarship
money in students account etc.

Hence teachers were in schools but not in classrooms. The same can be
extrapolated to private schools where a lot of instructional time is lost to
rehearse high profile school events like annual day, sports day etc and with
the time that is left over teachers are expected to finish the curriculum with
finesse.

By the way an important observation, in all these high profile events the
chief guests generally happens to be a politician, sport star or someone
glamorous who holds a position of power. I still need to come across school
functions who have invited prominent educationists or senior teachers in
these school functions.

As teachers have to comply rather than pitching in their ideas, the whole
process seems like a mundane task leading to disheartened and demotivated
teachers. The issue of teacher motivation also lies in the labyrinth of our
complex education system where steep growth rate in student enrolment has
not kept in pace with growth rate in number of teachers.

To cope up with this teachers end up teaching a class of say 40 to 80

students in government schools. Of course, international schools can boast
about a harmonious teacher student ratio, not because they really care about
healthy student – teacher ratio but because the vast majority of Indian
population cannot afford the overpriced fee structure.

Sometimes teachers are thrust with grades and subjects that a teacher is not
equipped to handle or interested to teach. Most of all the blame game that
teachers have to suffer when management and even parents question them if
a student’s result is not up to the mark, even though the results are based on
an archaic examination system which stresses importance on textbook
learning with little to no scope of critical thinking.

Hence teachers are not motivated because they are not empowered and
there is no support for them.
Professional development and teacher’s needs
Education sector is a very dynamic industry. A good teacher needs to be
constantly updated with the best practices practiced across the world. This
means reevaluating and reflecting one’s pedagogical skills by adopting
rigorous study, practice and self – improvement.

The high performing countries keep professional development and training

as the top most priority and they conduct in-house trainings every month in
addition to regular classroom observations and feedback by peers and line
managers.

Observation is considered as an instrument of development by scaffolding

and developing the teachers and not as a weapon to terminate their services
which nowadays schools are adept in doing.

Unfortunately professional development and R&D cell in these elite private

schools is starkly absent and even if there are such workshops they are
numbered to say 10 or 15 PD sessions per year, leaving teachers unequipped
to manage the rapidly changing milieu of education section.

Very few schools like Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad, Indus school
Bangalore, TISB etc have their in-house professional development cell.

At the end of the day a teacher is just a human being who herself has studied
in the same dysfunctional system which means most of her teaching
practices stems from the belief and experiences acquired during her school
days.

To change or even transform her belief system requires redesigning of

professional development modules to a cutting age quality.

For example, after the implementation of RTE (Right to education), which

again many private schools have not wholeheartedly accepted, the
classrooms have become more diverse and multi ethnic and multi lingual.

Teachers lack the skills to manage such diversity in class. Training

programmes are designed keeping in view the situation existing in urban
schools and problems faced by teachers like high teacher student ratio or
multi grade teaching are hardly discussed.

An elementary school teacher attends the same training programme as that

of a senior school teacher leaving no scope for differentiation and discussion
on age specific issues. Most of the sessions are nothing but heavy dose of
theory with zero planning to implement those ideas.
Sessions like joyful learning and student-centric learning sounds hollow to
teachers who have to deal with social diversity, different levels of students
and most importantly, children who belong to the bottom level of Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs which means children who have low self-esteem as they
are hungry for love and a sense of belonging.

In general there is no subject specific training for multi grade situations as

most training programmes focus on generic skills. Hence there is a complete
mismatch between the problems faced by teachers inside the classroom and
training programmes designed by administrators who have very little idea of
challenges of a multi-grade class.

Even if a teacher takes the whole pain to educate herself, at the end she is
supervised by department head or principal who themselves have
stereotypes and mindset that are even more outdated.

For example, if a language teacher is doing a listening task then she would
be questioned by her coordinator as to why there is focus on listening and
speaking skills rather than writing skills.

For the coordinator it is a Eureka moment if the teacher writes something on

the board and students copy them like mute sheep increasing the volume of
pages filled in the notebook which is a tangible product that can be shown to
parents.

Or let’s say a Maths teacher, who wants to implement an activity that she has
learned from one of the workshop session by asking the students to sing a
rap while teaching statistics, would be promptly intervened by the
management by scolding her in front of the students for not maintaining
discipline.

Lack of intellectual liberty and academic freedom is what teachers miss in

this profession and this failure of implementing something new curtails their
motivation to learn, innovate and update their practices.

Finding the Holy Grail: Work life balance

As mentioned earlier teaching can be demoralizing for many reasons —
demotivated students, helicopter parents, disorganized administration, lack
of financial incentive, lack of prestige in our society for teachers, etc.

Add to it the fact that most teachers return back home and spend their
quality personal time and weekends marking notebooks, planning lessons,
grading answer scripts etc. This means by the end of the day a teacher is
mentally and physically exhausted leaving neither any time to pursue a
hobby nor any time to socialise with friends except to recharge themselves
during summer holidays I presume.

A person who is physically and psychically drained has no time to even enjoy
the little pleasures of life, forget about imagining how to upgrade one’s
career skills.

If a teacher is smart enough to strike the right cord of work life balance , that
teacher is branded as lazy and not hardworking as the myopic thought
process of most of the coordinators make them feel that a good teacher is
one who carries work at home.

I feel that teachers should consider themselves as master of their trade and
not a slave of their trade. One should not forget that apart from being a
teacher, one is also a member of the society as a mother, wife, girl-friend,
daughter, sister and most important as a friend.

There is no secret recipe to achieve eternal bliss of work life balance. It can
only be achieved by rigorous time management and making it a daily habit
otherwise one should be prepared to feel burnt out which will cause
frustration, helplessness and worst professional dissatisfaction.

Personal image and society’s expectations

A teacher is expected to project a ‘perfect teacher’ image. She is required to
epitomize calmness and behave like a conservative moral police. Society puts
this immense pressure on teachers as if their every decision, act, and word
can inspire or devastate students.

So if a parent, student or God forbid the school coordinator spots a teacher

having a quiet romantic dinner with her partner, then it won’t be accepted as
decent behavior as per the moral code of conduct that teachers are expected
to follow.

Well, one can try their luck by quoting Amol Palekar’s dialogue in Golmaal
that the person in question happened to be the twin sibling, but rest assured
that teacher will become the talk of the town.

Think of the curious kids that we teach. If one of them wants to write an
open petition to the school authorities asking why RTE has not been
implemented as per Government norms then it would boomerang the
teacher for not curbing free thinking and inciting students.

If a student fails, it is the teacher’s fault. If a student succeeds, then it is the

achievement of the student alone. Teachers shoulder all the responsibility,
but get little recognition or appreciation for their students’ achievement.

To conclude most of us enter this profession as a new leaf: bright and starry
eyed, idealist and ready to inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Once in the
profession the reality of teaching hits us, draining the passion and ‘joie de
vivre’ of this noble profession.

Even if a teacher tries to maintain their grounds by shielding their students

from the problems that plague our system, it seems vain as teachers have no
power to solve them and become cogwheels to the entire system and even
contributing to the system.

The feeling is like the first job a teenager gets in his or her favorite
restaurant. Instead of eating what she loves to eat every day, she prefers not
to eat it again after seeing how it was prepared.

I feel rather than finding imperfections, the choice lies in one’s hand. It is
the personal choice of the teacher to find gratitude in staying with students
and enjoying the heat of the classroom.

It is the choice of the teacher to find pleasure in one’s threads of work,

connection with families of strangers, appreciating the craft of an educator
as the rhythm of the years pass by. Above all it is the choice of the teacher to
find the purpose of teaching which is to teach children not to seek the
best but to seek the deepest, the most varied, the fullest, the calmest and the
truest.

When teachers would learn to appreciate their choices, battling the Goliaths
would seem less overwhelming.

Read these related posts:

– How to Become a School Teacher in India
– Primary Education in India: Costs, Statistics, Problems

Liked the article? Show us some love. Share it.

   

Wondering if you need a career change? Find out with this Free Online Career
Assessment Test.

//
 Yasmeen Hossain

Yasmeen Hossain left her banking job to become a school

teacher. She shares her experiences, knowledge and views
on the Indian education sector.

48 Comments

yogesh says: Reply

January 2, 2017 at 10:38 am

critical analysis.. article shed light on poor condition of

teacher and not getting help from any source.. reference of
teachers in haryana is completely true..

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

January 10, 2017 at 12:11 am

Sir,
Most of the problems stated here arise from a
single issue which is feminisation of this
profession. Most of my work colleagues took up
this profession once they themselves became a
mother. It was definitely not a career option of
their choice . Keeping this point in mind , most
schools exploit this situation by not paying them
as commensurate to what they truly deserve. Plus
the fact that a woman’s income is considered as
supplementary and not the primary source of
income gives these schools further reasons to not
think about competitive remuneration. Hence
this situation cannot be solved only via external
help as this requires change in mindset. Even if
we seek external help from education companies
and NGO’s like Premji foundation, the grass root
problem still needs to be solved. I would
appreciate if you can share some of your
suggestions to tackle all these issues raised.

jagdeep Yadav says:

 April 19, 2017 at 12:32 pm Reply

i am also trying to solve the problem of

students lacking understanding in the
classroom, and do not have their desk or
table for proper working and your
article has been a good step on this side.
if you have some data on Indian School
whose have not their furniture. Please
help me on this survay.
Thanking You.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

April 21, 2017 at 10:19 pm

Hi Jagdeep,
Thank you for liking my article
and I am sorry to say I really
don’t have any data to support
your survey.

Sam says: Reply

May 16, 2017 at 6:16 pm

Yasmeen, my compliments for a brilliant article

that is both good reading and so insightful! A
depressing picture but so true! Any thoughts on
the way ahead? Sam

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 21, 2017 at 2:49 pm

Hello Sam,
Thanks for appreciating my
article.Regarding way ahead, it depends
a lot on society’s mindset as well as
individual belief of teachers when they
start their career.If the government’s
mindset as well as policies changes for
good then I guess things can improve.
Whilhelmina Mathew says: Reply

May 19, 2017 at 1:11 pm

Brilliantly written this is what is happening in

almost every school in India, there’s not just one
state or place in the country that has these
problems, schools are money making institutes
as rightly said 5 star school buildings by builders
and politicians, parents seek only such kind of
institutions as a place of worship and study. It
doesn’t matter if the school has good results or a
reputation, the moment parents know that the
school stands for discipline parents tend to
blackmail a few teachers who stand for principles
and, such teachers are never appreciated then
where comes the point of setting good trends in
education. Good education for such parents,
managements etc is the number of pages
completed in the notebook producing results by
intoxicating students with revision question,
revision to be done 3 weeks prior to the exam.
Where comes the need for critical thinking?
Competitive exams for such students from the so
called affluent families and the upper strata of
society are corrupt politicians who are in a
position to send the answer papers home after an
exam and have required answers filled in. The
irony they are state and national toppers and the
so called IAS, IPS, IFS doctors you name it and
they have it. Where is there a merit system?This
is what a country wants, not dedicated teachers,
dedicated teachers are getting “extinct.” The
former education minister has made education a
little more meaningful as well as meaning less ,
as in schools volumes of notes are appreciated by
parents and management, here 24 months of
teachers training B.Ed without any focus or
priority is thrust upon candidates. It’s the cry and
the voice of all teachers who are helpless and
demotivated.
 Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 21, 2017 at 2:58 pm

Hello Whilhelmina,
Thanks for appreciating my article as
well as sharing your inputs. I do agree
with most of the things that you have
mentioned and let us hope that there is
some solution to this vicious circle.

Shanti Ramaswamy says: Reply

March 5, 2018 at 6:24 pm

Well written articulating the real situation as it is

nearly so in many states in India.I appreciate the
fact that you seek support saying there is scope to
turn it into a noble profession as it is.

Deepali says: Reply

March 10, 2017 at 11:56 am

Excellent article, Yasmeen. Several good and valid issues.

Perhaps there are some solutions beyond the teacher
herself/himself: communities of practice, for example,
have proved to be extremely valuable in providing
teachers with the emotional, intellectual and moral
support that they so desperately need.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

March 12, 2017 at 6:20 pm

Hello Deepali,
Thank you so much for liking my article. Well
there are some teacher training organisations
and other skills training companies who conduct
workshops and other necessary training.
However I feel the solution to most of these
issues lies in the individual itself. If the teacher
has a clear conscience and decides to craft his/
her own life rather than being a cogwheel to this
 system and even contributing to its problems
then I feel a lot of problems can be solved.

Mr.Jolly Jose says: Reply

March 17, 2017 at 7:42 pm

An excellent observation. Reading it will enrich many.

Thanks. But I have one doubt. Are you a feminist? Why is
it written as there are only female teachers? I surely know
that there are a good number of dedicated, motivated
male teachers too are there. let us consider teacher as a
common gender. I think when in literature usually the
term ‘he’ is attributed as common gender. Let us work
together to motivate the young minds. I used to say my
colleagues, “A doctor can kill only a patient, but a teacher
can kill a generation”. So a teacher should be such a
person who can convert every class into a debate
inscribing the value points into the young minds which
kindles them. they should start thinking and sparking
from that point and bring a new idea into the society by
his own. then the life of a teacher is worth mentioning.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

April 5, 2017 at 1:56 pm

Dear Mr.Jose,
Thank you for appreciating my article. Regarding
your question whether I am a feminist or not , I
can only say that I believe in equality. If that is
your perception of feminism, then yes I am a
feminist. I also know that there are good
dedicated male teachers though very few in
number as women happen to be in majority in
this profession . If Dr.Manobi Bandopadhyay
happens to be the first transgender principal,
then I feel our country has progressed a lot. This
article does not talk about the problems of
women teachers but teachers in general and as
far as literature is concerned I use both the words
 ‘he’ & ‘she’ as they represent two different
gender.

Rishi says: Reply

April 1, 2017 at 9:46 pm

Hi,
Me and my team are trying to solve the problem of
students lacking understanding in the classroom, and
your article has been a serendipitous moment which made
me realize where the root cause may lie.

Thanks for your insights. If possible for you I and my team

would love to get your ideas and perspective in shaping
our solution.

Kindly reach out if you wish.

Thanks

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

April 5, 2017 at 10:01 am

Hello Rishi,
Thank you for liking my article and I would like
to help your team in whatever way possible.

Reetu Verma says: Reply

May 17, 2017 at 12:23 pm

Hello Yasmeen!
I really appreciate your insights. This article covers most
of real facts about our education system.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 21, 2017 at 3:00 pm

Hello Reetu,
Thank you for reading and liking my article.
Durga Moro says: Reply

May 18, 2017 at 9:06 pm

Yasmeen,
A very well written article depicting the truth. I too quit
my banking job after the birth of my children and got
passionate about the Montessori method and did the
diploma and joined a Montessori school. Now, I am with a
public school wanting to explore different methods of
education. Between the Montessori and traditional, I feel
as you rightly said, more than the method, management
or any other factor, it is the teacher’s personal belief and
working style that creates a difference.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 21, 2017 at 3:04 pm

Hello Durga,
Glad to know that we both share a common
career journey. Regarding personal belief of a
teacher, it is something that I have always
stressed upon. It is always better to light a candle
rather than being pessimistic about the darkness
around. A lot of work satisfaction depends on an
educator’s style and mindset.

Aixa says: Reply

May 19, 2017 at 12:23 pm

Yasmeen,
Thanks for your article. I think it is spot on and I agree
with you on may points. As a foreign teacher working in
India I have noticed many of these problems and it’s so
good to know that it isn’t only me thinking about these
issues. Specially when it comes to work-life balance, I
think schools still have a lot to learn, and I agree that this
may be one of the reasons of the lack of motivation,
interest and the general moodiness of many of the
teachers here. I really enjoy the read. Thanks!
Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 21, 2017 at 3:14 pm

Hello Aixa,
Thanks for resonating with my points mentioned
in this article. I would love to know the teaching
culture of your country as well as how work- life
balance is maintained by schools in your country.

Kim says: Reply

May 31, 2017 at 10:47 am

Hi, Yasmeen.
Thank you for this article. Like Aixa, I am a
foreigner teaching in India, and I also feel relief
that there are others noticing these dynamics
within the education sector and within the
schools themselves. Your words gave me a new
understanding of teachers as products of the
education system for which they work. The
pressures are enormous and they have no
allowance for creativity, autonomy, or agency.
There is no space for their voices to be heard and,
counter to the incredible amount of
responsibilities they are given, teachers endure
an immense amount of disrespect and distrust.
India is an immensely beautiful country. It’s
people possess the warmest hearts and shrewdest
minds of anyone I have ever encountered. I have
hope that someday there will be a growing space
for change within the education system. That
education will be a deeper pursuit than just the
surface of the building in which classes are held. I
have hope that things will change not just or
teachers, but also for students. Your thorough
analysis, personal experience, and compassion
give me motivation for my new year of teaching
in India.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

 May 31, 2017 at 9:28 pm

Dear Kim,
Thank you so much for your comment.
It means a lot to me when expats like
you share their opinions on this
platform. I am glad that you agree to the
fact that teachers are a byproduct of the
education system that they grow up in
and hence it is extremely important to
start one’s teaching career by unlearning
as well as learning a lot of new things. I
wish you all the best for your teaching
tenure in India.

Sarojini Badoni says: Reply

May 22, 2017 at 1:40 am

Hello Yasmeen,
I loved your article.Every single teacher teaching in rural
or urban part of India working in government or a private
school will connect to each and every word you wrote
here.You got the right chord.I agree we alone cannot
change the system over night but can bring the change
with in ourselves for that we should take pride in being a
teacher first.In your words” We are the masters of this
trade not the slaves” well said Yasmeen. I want to know
more about the role of In house Professional development
cell in the schools and how it works.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 27, 2017 at 1:08 pm

Hello Sarojini,
Thank you for resonating with my ideas and
agreeing to the fact that we are the change agents
rather than expecting change from the system.
Now for professional development education
sector is a very dynamic industry. As an educator
we need to upgrade our teaching skills and
classroom strategies to match up with the current
 demand. Plus it serves as a good platform to
share one’s learning. Some schools have their
own in house professional development cell
where workshops are conducted by senior
teachers with years of experience. They conduct
their own surveys to assess training modules that
their staff require and then tailor their
workshops for the academic session. One of the
prerequisites of IB curriculum is to devote
around 60 or 80 hours of training hours for
teaching staff per year. Schools that do not have a
Research and development cell hire trainers from
outside to deliver sessions. It all depends on the
budget planned by the school administrators as it
involves logistics cost as well as trainers cost also.
Finally the best way is to read a lot of articles
written by eminent educationists., teachers etc.

Vijay Choudhari says: Reply

May 26, 2017 at 12:32 pm

the article is the brilliantly written with great insight

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 31, 2017 at 9:16 pm

Thank you so much Vijay.

KAVI MANOJ B G says: Reply

May 26, 2017 at 8:15 pm

Thanks for the detailed article on challenges in our

schools. this article gives me some deep insights on the
issues faced by teachers and management. could you give
us some of your work with more clarifications and details
of problems faced by students and their perception on the
teachers and administrators ?? thank you so much
 Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

May 31, 2017 at 9:16 pm

Dear Kavi Manoj,

Thank you for finding my article insightful.
Regarding problems faced by students , I have
never written any article on this issue. Anyways
the generic problems affect all types of schools.
Whether it is learning difficulties or behavioral
issues they exist in both affordable or high end
schools. Behavioral issues stem up due to present
day issues of neglect, domestic or emotional
abuse due to conservative parents , feeling of
abandonment due to peer pressure or parents
going through divorce and even bullying. Due to
helicopter parenting it is ubiquitous to see
students who are extremely pampered and to add
on top of this, teachers who have not updated
their personality and approach towards teaching
and blame parents for everything.
Similar problems exist in affordable private
schools but problems are more stark due to
rampant lack of funds, sometimes alcoholic
parents etc, but based on my personal experience
I find the will power of students from these
schools is way higher than high end schools
might be because they are not only resourceful
but also value what they get.
Nonetheless based on my experience one thing is
sure students look out for teachers who can
identify their uniqueness rather than labeling
them as behavioral issue students. They basically
need a teacher who can listen and takes effort
and time after school hours to listen to them and
their stories without being judge mental.
Listening and giving the required space is what
makes all the difference in their lives.

Nandini says: Reply

June 4, 2017 at 8:05 pm

Excellent article Ms. Yasmeen! It is a sad state of
education. I joined this field for the love of teaching and
children. But sadly , it is drifting due to the so called ‘rules’
set by people who are not even aware of the day to day
practical problems faced in a classroom. Mid year or late
admissions without any pre tests are a big challenge. Due
to high fee structure, parents don’t want to repeat a class
even if the child is unable to cope. Parents don’t have any
respect for teachers as they feel that they are paying huge
amount of fees which unfortunately does not reach the
teacher! This sense of disrespect passes on to the children
also leaving the teacher frustrated.
As the competition level rise among schools, the
management stresses on holding events some of which
have no relevance to the kids at all! and that too on a large
scale which takes away precious teaching time and effort
of teachers.
Is there any solution to this ever??

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

June 6, 2017 at 7:40 pm

Dear Nandini,
Thank you for liking my article. Well what you
said is not something new based on my personal
experience as well as what my colleagues
experienced. Most of them are something that we
need to accept as a pinch of salt and move on
rather than fret about them. Now that
differentiation is a pedagogical tool, new
students can be accommodated who join school
in the middle of the academic year. A separate
curriculum, syllabus can be created for those
students. I mean I have students who not only
join school in the middle or end of the year but
even did not have French in their previous
schools which means they are absolute beginners
who are expected to be supported via bridge
programme and other support materials to
leverage with the rest of the class. At the end they
are clients and it is our duty to support them and
 some of them do really better than the regular
students.
Coming to the point of respect, I have heard
many teachers complaint about it but personally
I have never experienced it. This is not because I
am a very cool headed teacher as I do have my
eruption moments but because I believe in logical
arguments. Students play with rules when we
either don’t listen to them to understand their
perspective or we don’t give them the reason
behind a particular norm. They have a right to
question every decision of mine and as a teacher
I should give them the rationale behind every
consequence. The moment this typical stereotype
starts playing in our mind that we deserve
respect because we are elders , it is at that precise
moment we loose respect . Also students respect
those teachers who don’t unnecessarily interfere
in their personal lives. I mean half of the time I
enter in a staff room, I find one or the other
senior teacher gossiping about a student dating
with some high school student or some other
issue. I think that breaks the personal cord
because it is no one’s business to discuss about
someone’s life and students figure out judge
mental teachers very easily . Most important we
can only earn respect when we start respecting
our career choice which many teachers fail to do
so because teaching was never their preferred
career choice and with the passage of time they
have settled into complacency rather than
inspiring themselves to learn a new skill or
upgrade one’s knowledge or pursue a new hobby
or even higher studies. Moral of the story one
needs to love and respect oneself, be a good
listener and stay young at heart to earn respect
from students.

Kalpana. V says: Reply

June 9, 2017 at 3:26 pm

Hi Yasmeen,
Your article was calling a spade a spade. Good. I would
like to register here that the plight of private engineering
college teachers is still more pathetic. The teacher has to
handle not just the system, the curriculum, the
management etc but also the disinterested adult students,
who, you will not know, what they are interested in. As
there is this information cascade from everyside, teachers
are the last resort for them to come to learn. It is tough to
handle their silence, their sleepiness, their insensitivity in
the classroom. furthermore we, the professors are
responsible for their performance in the exams and their
results too.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

June 11, 2017 at 2:24 pm

Hello Kalpana,
Thank you for your insights about the tertiary
education sector of our country. I understand
how it feels dealing with students who are not so
motivated but for a moment I feel as educators
we are equally responsible for all this. Do we take
the extra step to talk to them personally and try
to connect to them on a human level after class
hours or do we keep our biased judgments only
to reprimand them at the end? Even we deal with
teenagers who hail from filthily rich family and
generally find no purpose in education. My
experience has taught me that no matter
whatever background a student hails from , every
student has a story. Some are victims of bullying
or peer pressure and take up this languorous
approach towards life just to maintain their cool
image in front of their friends. Once their stories
are debunked , it is from there a solution can be
worked out. Students will always sleep if they
don’t understand the purpose of that topic they
are studying or they are not challenged to keep
 them engaged. I feel even a dry subject if
presented in an interesting and challenging
manner can keep the students motivated to learn.
Above all they also need to be constantly
reminded as to why they are learning that topic
and how will that help them in real life by
drawing real life connections.

Amit says: Reply

June 19, 2017 at 11:13 pm

Hi Yasmeen,
Nice article.
As a solution, how will it work, if we involve the Corporate
world into it – they can utilize their CSR funds along with
their latest technology and management skill to improve
professional development of the teachers. Currently,
Corporates (if they focus on education) spend their CSR
funds and energy in teaching children only. Your views ?

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

June 30, 2017 at 11:39 pm

Hello Amit,
Thanks for your comment. Well it will be a good
step to employ funds for teachers. A lot of them
do not have much idea of latest pedagogy and
mindset to teach children. Training should be
more on handling practical skills like classroom
management, growth mindset etc.

Harshal says: Reply

August 1, 2017 at 11:56 am

Many of you have pointed about changing mind set of

society and also a teachers self estimation

However, reality is what I can see is compensation offered

to teachers is very less. Mainly government teachers are
moving and leaving the government teaching jobs due to
the same reason

Any idea how can we retain and motivate those teachers??

is there anyway we can improve their life style and change
their thinking about government teaching jobs?

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

September 7, 2017 at 1:59 pm

Hello Harshal,
You would be surprised to find out that in
general compensation of government teachers is
more than that of most private schools. So
monetary compensation is an important factor
but not the only factor. It’s like Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. Money would just act as the
basic need and once the basic need is fulfilled ,
people will try to find out avenues to move
towards greener pasture. To retain and motivate
such teachers we need to show them avenues of
growth which encompasses both
intellectual ,professional and personal growth.
Teachers should be shown opportunities where
they can decide their career graph, pursue higher
studies , become an active member of school
decision policy etc rather than just being told
what they are expected to do or duties being
assigned for some school functions.
Until and unless teachers are challenged and
allowed to develop their own practices by
allowing them academic liberty, teaching would
look like a mundane job and it won’t come as a
surprise if people who are in this industry for 20
years prefer to quit as they were never shown
ways to grow as an educator.

Vandana says: Reply

November 28, 2017 at 4:29 pm

Hi Yasmeen, Insightful, introducing teacher appraisals
linked to student performance might help in the
government sector. Better hiring processes and salaries in
the private sector.

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

December 11, 2017 at 1:06 am

Hello Vandana,
Thanks. Regarding appraisals there should be a
proper framework because I won’t be surprised if
teachers reduce the standard of assessments to
jack up the scores or pass a student by retesting
again and again to portray false
accomplishments. If these are taken care of then
appraisals can be helpful. Apart from student
performance I feel teachers should also be
assessed on the initiatives that they take in terms
of community outreach , conducting training
workshops for teachers and staff in general,
taking responsibility of their own professional
development etc. If these aspects are covered
then it will give appraisals a more holistic
perspective.

Arumugham K says: Reply

December 7, 2017 at 8:58 pm

Hi Mam,
I am doing my doctoral degree on the difficulties faced
women teachers in Tamilnadu, your views would certainly
help my studies. Thank you so much

Yasmeen Hossain says: Reply

April 24, 2018 at 11:12 pm

Dear Arumugham,

Thanks for using my opinion in your doctoral

studies. Good luck.
Labdhi says: Reply

January 14, 2018 at 3:22 pm

Hey..I also left a job in pharmaceutical industry to be a

teacher. I fought against my family to take that decision
because I wanted to make some solid contribution to the
society. What you have written in your article are the exact
same things that are bugging me. Believe me, I can relate
to every single word of it.

Yogita says: Reply

January 23, 2018 at 8:12 pm

Hi ! I really appreciate the way you are depicted the

truth.your article covers most of the real facts about our
education system but in my opinion we are responsible for
all these things.One should be confident and strict
towards their work .So change yourself otherwise change
will change you.Teacher should start thinking and
sparking from that point,and bring new ideas in the
society.

Priyamohan Sahu says: Reply

April 6, 2018 at 5:45 pm

Hi Mam,

Thank u your article is helpful.We are working on a

project to motivate the educator in order to improve the
quality education in rural India .The factor we identified
are compensation and autonomy and training and new
class room technology and pedagogy. May i know the
issue faced by rural primary educator particularly in
school having one or two teacher only as it will strengthen
my project.

shishirant rahul says: Reply

December 31, 2018 at 12:52 pm

this is one of the most inspiring, transparent and straight-
forward article i have even come across. Really appreciate
your work and dedication. Keep writing and keep
motivating.

Aniket Rumde says: Reply

March 13, 2019 at 6:40 am

Hi Yasmeen,

We are currently working on a documentary about

education system in India.
Would it be possible to share your email address?

My email address is tnikea@gmail.com

Regards,
Aniket

Josh says: Reply

April 6, 2019 at 8:09 am

You are a masterful writer. Thank you for sharing your

experience and talent.

Varsha says: Reply

April 14, 2019 at 1:53 pm

Yasmin! I recently joined a school as the Art teacher and

have been called to the principal’s office for the use of
“unparliamentary language”. More than ashamed, I was
shocked at the accusations. And many of them came from
the students who are children of some of the teachers in
the school. Being a teacher is a sacrifice enough, but when
the sacrifice is not even acknowledged, it’s really
heartbreaking. I’ve been feeling like a pile of horse-dung,
and am questioning myself and my morals and decisions.
I don’t want to feel like this but I don’t know what else to
do! The school authorities themselves have told me that
my subject is not as important and that some students
may not adhere to my teaching. Instead, they are free to
 do whatever pleases them and I’ve been told to mind my
tongue! I’m in such a dilemma. I gave up my corporate
writing job for this with hopes of giving something back to
the world. And one major issue that I wanted to bring to
light was the cold-shoulder and bullying that is persistent
within teachers. As a newcomer, the teachers are not
taking it well that I’m not sucking up to them and doing
this “ma’am ma’am” business. I’m a bit concerned as to
why I was hired in the first place. I thought it was for me
to be an art teacher who’s invested in the betterment and
skill enhancement of the students. Instead, here I am at
the mercy of the students and their parents who are just
waiting with pitchforks. As if to burn the witch.

Leave a Reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name * Email * Website

Post Comment

About Careerizma Career Guidance Resources Recent Career Articles

Career improvement resources to Personalized Career Counselling How to get into Quantitative Finance

upgrade your knowledge and build How to choose a career  June 4, 2019 0

your brand. Read more about Free Online Career Assessment

How to get into Learning and Development
Careerizma. (Funny) Career Guidance Tips Careers

Brainteaser Online Game  May 21, 2019 1

Interested in creating a profile on our Introverts in the corporate world: A

site to start building your online psychological analysis of an introvert’s mind

brand? Drop us an email and we'll help  April 16, 2019 2

you get started: careerizma [dot] info Sex Education in India: Importance, statistics,
[at] gmail [dot] com myths, issues

 April 2, 2019 2
 How to get into Advertising?

 March 19, 2019 0

© Careerizma. All Rights Reserved.     