What a teacher should be like

This writer has a great fund of respect for two groups of people: teachers and judges. But now-a-days, such respect is on the wane. A teacher is he who teaches, who helps his students to learn and who infuses ethics in students' minds. A teacher is he who maintains a routine for work, attends teaching classes in time, prepares lecture sheets before he goes to classroom, refers students to standard textbooks for further reading, explains issues until students understand, does not discriminate among his students, never suffers from any greed or lust, leads a simple and ideal life, thinks high, remains intellectually sharp and feels shy of any publicity.

This scribe is a teacher, who has been teaching at the Dhaka University for 39 years and will go on retirement very soon from the much-loved teaching job. Only his students will testify how good or how bad this teacher has been to them. He has always tried to be helpful to them whether in explaining issues to them or writing good testimonials for them. He has never regretted his decision of choosing teaching as a profession. As he has passed through his teaching career, he only enjoyed it more and more. Today at the end of his formal career, he would say he loved teaching most - more than anything else he did in his life.

His teachers were also great. From primary school to universities, he was taught by many great teachers. His primary school teachers in the late 1950s wanted him to achieve a good result. Some of those teachers fed him and taught him privately but never asked for money. His high school teachers were also like that. They supplied him books and stationery free of cost, coached him along with other students but never asked for money from him.

His college teachers, at the Chittagong College, were also wonderful. They advised him what and where he should study for his higher academic degrees. Those advices proved useful to him. When he was at the universities abroad, he received equal co-operation and help from his teachers. They never hesitated to write a good testimonial for him. Today, he is testifying that he got all lovable teachers, who were truly teachers. On the other hand, when he finds some teachers became teachers only by accident, it hurts him. Who else can be more cursed than a teacher who strayed away from the right path?

How can a teacher teach his students privately for money? Many guardians complain that if their wards do not undergo private coaching under a particular teacher, he does not give him good grade. A teacher is the worst kind of human being if he discriminates among his students. How can a teacher discriminate among his students simply because some students paid him money for private coaching and some others did not? Today, guardians of many students complain that some teachers are not mindful of classroom teaching; they are more busy with private coaching. These teachers sell their titles and school affiliations to earn money through private coaching. Walls of the cities are dotted with ads from such teachers.

A teacher should not and cannot teach his own students privately for money. At best, he can teach other students in leisure time from other institutions whose answer scripts he will not examine and grade. It pains us to hear that some teachers at school and college levels compel students to take private coaching under them. These kinds of pressure and persuasion are offence and these so-called teachers should be brought to book. Elements of personal gain very strongly have polluted our schools and colleges and that has injected greed into the minds of a section of teachers who are crossing all ethical boundaries. High ethical and moral standards are two basic pillars for teachers.

When we were students at schools and colleges, education was non-discriminatory, equal and open to all students. It was students' merit which mattered most. But now, education is largely discriminatory in the sense that monetary power of the guardians determines which students will get what opportunities. To this writer's knowledge, Bangla-medium students have been burdened with too many books. They are being taught too many topics and subjects and they are required to appear in too many exams. All students, who sit for final examinations, receive excellent grades, but in reality the so-called good students are not that good.

Getting good grades cannot be a true measure of meritorious studentship. Good studentship is totally different. It means more than getting good grades. The present education system is doing injustice to the truly meritorious students -- and, in particular, to the students coming from poor family background.  

The writer is a Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka.  abuahmedecon@yahoo.com