This year’s World Teachers’ Day is celebrated with different perspectives on the degree of sentiments toward the teaching profession. The essence of integrating discipline and bringing knowledge to mankind is a responsibility that has been dangling between parents and teachers. Some schools of thought opined that parents are as important as teachers in the area of impactful learning. This crucial suggestion may sound debatable.
How many teachers’ voices have been heard in areas that matter? This year’s theme, ‘Valuing Teachers Voices: Toward a New Social Contract for Education’, will be more meaningful with implementation. The distinctive thoughts of teachers may have suffered deaf ears in recent times over policymaking, which could have affected the line of teaching and learning. Some laws and rules have been propounded by some by-standing individuals in the curriculum of learning, which have been causing unsettling ripples among the recipients. If they must be heard, their voices should speak more in society.
Who considers the thoughts of our educators lately? Casting stones of limitations and bringing disrepute to our teachers will only reduce the workforce in the teaching profession. It has almost become a regular practice in the admission processes into tertiary institutions that students who have fallen short of the required admission criteria will be advised to find admissions with the college of education, as though the college is a dumping site. We create an impression with policies that teaching is not reputable.
This year’s World Teachers’ Day celebration is critically examining the roles of teachers, among other professions, in making society a pleasant place to live and work. The voices of the teachers should not fall among the helpless in society. When it comes to creating opportunities for a favourable condition that may invigorate the dwindling economic values of the nation, the contributions of our scholars should not be predated by those of the politicians. The stigma shouldn’t exist to create a second-class person in our teachers.
Read also: Celebrating World Teachers’ Day: Honoring the heroes of education
With appointments into offices in ministries related to education by the government, there should be a substantial number of experts who have proven worthy of their certifications in education that occupy these positions. The charade of making a quack fill these positions and assume that they will learn on the job is detrimental to our education sector. Exchanges of employment in these agencies are hampered by persons who may have taken up this task without prior experience of the required qualifications.
Social engagements of our teachers have been particularly difficult due to some financial constraints on their monthly income. Despite the new minimum wage increase in Nigeria, the rate of income for teachers has been uneven. It may be demoralising for teachers to be among the low-income earners in a society where the larger percentage of the population is less educated. If their income is something to go by, the level of commitment by these teachers will increase. Distractions are inevitably causing the negative input of these prestigious sages.
You would find the performance graph of a teacher moving south due to low personal income. This graph would go further to address their stress levels because the social expectations are far beyond their ability. If given appropriate and adequate support, teachers would do wonders for society. They may be assumed to be at their best in the classrooms, but more so in society. The experience is always a daunting one with so much to chew and less to bite.
A new horizon for teachers should address the working conditions both in the classroom and the staff room. It will also be fair to consider their commitments to the development of manpower in their immediate surroundings. It is safe to say that their responsibilities should not be ignored while they struggle to cover up for some inefficiencies in political commitments of free education. The statutory positions of our teaching force should span beyond classroom activities but rather take up positions that may require their expertise.
The state of the nation is ripe enough to accommodate the demands of the new-generation stakeholders; also, the new crop of employed teachers should as well embrace these responsibilities. It will be sad to assume that the old principles will still satisfy the new demands from technology and social skills. The unwavering inputs of these change agents and teachers strengthen our valuable workforce. They are more than instructors in the classroom but can be more with that support that drives this dynamic system of this age.
Our focus on their social contract will be more efficient if we focus on the present social problems and how we can resolve them. It starts in the classroom and spreads wide into society. The question is not “Who is a teacher? but “But who is not a teacher?” The teaching profession should get a nod if we can find a suitable profession that harnesses the essence of promoting social justice and bridging that gap between a child and a parent.
Olusegun Fashakin, a Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement fellow, writes in via [email protected]
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