Hemen Dutta
A teacher is someone who assists students in acquiring new knowledge, skills, or values. Society requires teachers to ensure a well-structured educational system. All stakeholders must assist teachers in enhancing their abilities and help them carry out their duties in order to maintain a vibrant teaching-learning environment for the nation’s overall growth.
The responsibilities of a teacher in the modern Indian educational system are well-defined. Formal teaching activities include preparing lessons according to the curriculum, delivering lessons, and assessing student progress. In addition to classroom education, a teacher’s professional responsibility may also include supervising extracurricular activities outside the classroom. Teachers should be fully aware of their work responsibilities as well as their powers as educators. Every teacher has both strengths and limitations. Teachers should do their best to overcome these limitations while fulfilling their responsibilities. They should regularly analyze how involved and inspired students are when they use certain teaching techniques in the classroom, identify the classes that went particularly well, and know the tools or strategies that students found effective while learning to determine what works best in their classroom. Teachers must collaborate to discuss issues related to their teaching skills, experiences, and requirements to improve student motivation towards learning. Younger teachers should approach more experienced teachers for advice on effective teaching methods and strategies. Teachers can also form collaborative learning communities at the institutional and inter-institutional levels to create a more formal structure for collaborative efforts to promote a vibrant teaching-learning environment.
Teachers who enter the profession out of necessity rather than passion may struggle to excel if they do not put in the extra effort to develop the needed competencies. Over the years, numerous researchers have offered their insights and recommendations on how to address various issues for a better teaching-learning environment. Teachers can read such literature and find solutions to some of their problems. Academic auditing process should be continuous and impartial in academic institutions. This process should help identify flaws in the current teaching-learning practices and search for solutions to improve teaching-learning strategies. Teachers should not hide the flaws in their pedagogies behind various excuses and claim that they cannot be held responsible for their students’ poor performances. It is necessary to update study materials judiciously to meet students’ specific needs, as well as to use teaching materials and aids other than course books for students’ better academic and professional advancements. Teachers may try to avoid complaining about inadequate facilities and students’ poor attitudes toward learning as much as possible when carrying out their jobs, even amid horrible academic circumstances for the greater good of society. Teachers can play an active role in acquiring necessary infrastructure and managing existing infrastructure through various collaborative efforts with like-minded entities and supporting agencies.
Teachers may also face a variety of workplace challenges, such as occupational stress, which can impact their mental and physical health, productivity, and student achievement. Guidelines for ensuring good teaching must be developed with extreme caution, as they may be irrelevant in certain cases or ineffective in dealing with genuine challenges. Teachers’ poor performance might be exacerbated when administrators make frequent changes to local guidelines without consulting them first. Teachers’ lack of financial flexibility in managing their requirements, the formation of groups and lobbying for vested interests and frequent disagreement among colleagues can all contribute to a low level of motivation in the profession. It is also sometimes the result of administrators’ indifference to resolving critical issues on time. Senior colleagues’ undesirable attitudes toward juniors, refusal to accept peers out of fear of losing self-respect, and egoistic nature can all be demotivating elements in the educational system. The misuse of the term “expert” in the completion of various essential tasks in the educational system can harm society in a variety of ways. Academic harassment can occur due to a lack of appropriate policies or rules, and many victims are unable to effectively oppose such events. Teachers with adequate expertise may feel oppressed when they are denied appropriate roles in various critical decision-making processes, such as curriculum design and student assessment. It is necessary to honour competent teachers, encourage them and help them receive proper recognition in any manner society can. There should be rewards for teachers who strive to give their best through continuous hard work and dedication in order to recognize them and keep them motivated. Because rewards are only given to a small group of excellent teachers, there should be a more meaningful system for recognizing teacher achievers at the institutional and other appropriate levels. It is the obligation of responsible authorities to ensure that teachers have adequate opportunities to flourish in their profession, with adequate infrastructure and other amenities in place on a regular basis.
The author is with the Department of Mathematics, Guwahati University, Guwahati. He can be reached at hemen_dutta08@rediffmail.com