There are cases where teachers have rather played a negative role in the life of their students
LAHORE: There is a well-known quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson that ‘the secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.’ The role of teachers in students’ life changes from elementary schooling to college level. At college level, teachers necessarily don’t play role as positive as one should. There are cases where teachers have rather played a negative role in the life of their students. The system too is somewhat responsible for this. To list down the first cause, is the semester system (a practice in universities), where teachers often misuse the authority by awarding grades to students on the basis of their personal relations with the course instructor. The students too maintain good relations with the teacher to secure good scores, however, there is less of learning involved in the process. At times, teachers are insulting, discouraging and disrespectful towards hardworking students, who attend classes to learn. Often almost half of the class is dissatisfied with the teacher’s behaviour. This then leads to disgust towards the instructors and demotivation among the student. Such behaviour of teachers towards students needs to change. The education ministry must develop a mechanism to regulate the behaviour of teachers especially at university level, as it is right before the students enter their professional work life.
There are few recommendations for policy-makers that can help in dismantling the unipolarity of power among the teachers.
-To reform the semester system by promoting non-discriminatory teaching practices in the classroom. In fact, examination papers should be checked by other experts of the subjects and not the teachers who have taught these students for months.
-Committees should be formed on campuses to register and investigate complaints against teachers. The committee which is formed for the investigation purposes should be powerful enough to break the nexus between teachers and the higher authority members like the chairperson of the institute, head of the department or the dean.
-The evaluation pro forma of the teachers which is filled by the students should be put under scrutiny every semester.
Habibullah
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2019.
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