Teaching; a noble profession but ordinary for teachers

I, being brought up in a teachers’ family know the difficulties of teachers here in India. My father was a professor of physics in Delhi University, main department and my mother a teacher in Air Force School. As a family, we knew the three W’s: Where, Why and When in terms of financial and social matters. We knew the difference between a necessity and luxury (basic economics) and; I and my brother follow it till date,

I lived in a teacher’s society where almost all parents were in teaching profession with similar kind of struggles and we children knew our parent’s hardships and none of us ever had high demands, rather there was a sense of concern and responsibility. When we grew up and wanted to shape up our career and profession, none of us, yes none of us wanted to get into teaching profession. Though we all had great respect for teaching profession, big admiration for teachers, but still none of us wanted to get into teaching profession by choice.

Today, I have taken up this article not because there is a guilt or a sense of repayment but, even after so many years, the plight and struggles of the teaching profession is the same. I present to you, certain points that as readers we should ponder about and think collectively.

1. Work hours in teaching profession: As against the normal notion that teachers have less working hours, standard work hours for school, college and university teachers is 8 hours as they have to report early and leave late. Moreover, many times, correction work and other school or college related work is brought homes, so basically there is work from home after full day’s work in school or college.
2. Holidays in teaching profession: Well! Teachers definitely get more paid holidays as compared to the rest of the professions but the margin is not huge. This is because in most of the schools and colleges, teachers have to report to school or college even if students have vacations. So, technically they are working even if school or college is off.
3. No escapism from politics: As readers, if you think that teaching profession is free of politics then you are certainly mistaken. Like corporate politics, even this profession is not spared of it. There is always a tussle between departments, be it between English, Hindi, Science or any other department particularly when there is annual festival or exhibitions. There is always a tussle among cultural departments, be it dramatics, music, dance or any other department. There is always an internal politics amongst teachers, head of departments to be in the limelight of the management.
4. Pay package is like peanuts: To become a teacher, the amount of study years is plenty. First there is 3 years, B.A or B. Sc., then 2 years of M.A or M.Sc. followed by 2 years of B.Ed. and M.Ed. So, as compared to the rest of the professions, this profession demands many years in study. But the pay scale of teachers is way less and moreover there is hardly any increment and yearly bonus.

I say this because, I was randomly checking on LinkedIn, Indeed and various other job portals and comparing the pay package of teachers with the rest of the jobs.  

5. There is hardly any scope of promotion: Unlike other professions, teaching profession does not have much scope of promotion. A teacher can be a head of department, then a vice-principal and then principal. However, the point here is, of so many teaching staff there is only 1 position for HOD, 1 position for vice principal and 1 for principal. For the rest of the teachers, there is no opportunity for promotion.

Also, many researches show that the teachers of private institutes are less paid and are more stressed as compared to the government institutes. As we talk of progress in our country, development and growth and better economics of our country, what about this noble profession? There is no mention of this occupation ever in any social media, education departments. Private schools, colleges and universities are being opened for the vested interest and benefit of the trust as this has become another line of business but teachers position and status remains the same.

Today, as I end my article, I wish the corporates, the management and the government take cognizance of this matter and really get our teaching staff an appropriate recognition in the society, after all they are the ones who shape the career of young ones who are the future of our country.

Disclaimer: these are purely my views and thoughts with no intension to hurt and harm anyone. Please comment and give suggestions for this article.