Prof. SK. Bhalla
Today the nation is celebrating ‘Teachers’ Day as usual and there is a deluge of news about programmes galore across the nation. So far so good. The moot question is whether as a nation we have succeeded in imbibing the spirit of education as envisaged by our scholarly President Dr.Sarvapali Radhakrishnan.
A bird’s eye view of the educational scenario presents an overall gloomy picture. The pristine glory of educational institutions which used to be “Temples of Learning”, has eroded to a great extent much to chagrin of the right thinking. The journey of transference of temples of scholarship to educational business shops is a big question mark on the pious intentions of our policy makers as well as watchdog agencies sitting in glass houses completely forgetful of harsh ground realities. Mushrooming tuition shops of all sorts in nooks and corners of cities and their ever increasing clientele is a projection of failure of much talked about reforms in education sector via National Educational Policy (NEP). Sadly, those desirous of performing their duties of teaching sincerely with dedication are either being discouraged or harassed on flimsy grounds. This is a blot.
The government educational institutions are lost in the whirlpool of managing kitchen postings under the pretext of medical, security grounds coupled with deputation and attachment ailments which have assumed alarming proportions with none at the helm of affairs to stem the rot. Deviation from their core duty of knowledge transmission to students, now a days has taken a nose dive as some teachers now more engrossed in lucrative purchase exercises to feather their own nest. In conflict of interest, some have virtually become traders by projecting proxies.
This phenomenon has taken deep roots in government educational institutions in our J&K UT also. The government must disband this unhealthy practice by strictly separating purchase assignments from teachers so that they can devote themselves in class rooms. It is a serious issue requiring directions from the top. The situation prevailing in private education institutions is much worst than government educational joints as profiteering is their sole motive.
Reality of summer training programmes pertaining to skill development as well as managing thesis for research work have also come under scanner which raises suspicion about the navigational role of the guide. This mess is more deeper in cluster universities of J&K especially Jammu where imparting education has become more of a formality than a serious exercise. This declining standard is breeding a culture of quid pro quo among the teachers and the students which may help the later to fetch degree easily sans market employability. There are reports that some rogue private institutions are ensuring dummy admissions on large scale where the students enrolled remain invisible throught the session. This is a new alarming trend that needs to arrested by the JKBOSE authorities.
It has been noticed that in government educational institutions a select lot of teachers have said good bye to the teaching assignments with the blessings of their bosses. On the analogy of Back to Village, Back to classes should be religiously followed and even institutional Heads must engage a class or two to set an example for delinquent to emulate. This healthy practice if followed will indeed restore the sobriquet of ‘Guru’ of institutional heads which over the years has been diminished to non entity.
On this auspicious day, let all the teachers take a solemen pledge to introspect as to where they have failed the Civil Society leading to rampant growth of educational shops which negate the much touted slogan of quality education in our institutions.