Teachers – An invaluable part of the society.
Education is essential, and the call for a guiding personality and a teacher is a reality.
The guiding person that we simply call ‘ Teacher ’ can be a human being, or it can be a situation, or it can be an experience while doing your usual work.
We often hear that the first teacher of a person is our mother, but the irony is that we know our first teacher, but we don’t know how many teachers we will have in our life.
That means we are learners throughout our lives.
That means the importance of teachers in our lives is inexplicable.
Teacher’s Day in India –
Guru Govind dou khade, Kake lagu paye;
Balihari guru apno jin Govind diyo bataye.
This beautiful couplet by mystic poet Sant Kabir Das aptly describes the need for a teacher.
According to this couplet, we need teachers to know about God, so before bowing down in front of God, we should turn our heads in front of the teacher.
That is the legacy of teachers in India, and teachers have held a respectful and sacred position in our society since the ages, perhaps since human beings started learning.
Since the advent of civilized society, and then from the Vedic period, the teaching of life values and life skills started systematically in the Gurukuls, and the teachers, who were hermits and sages, had pious and spiritual relations with all their disciples.
We have Rigveda as the earliest literary evidence of Indian history to tell us the Philological developments in India, especially in South India.
Under the generic name Dravidian, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam came into existence, and these languages were different from Sanskrit.
Brahmacharya – The first stage among the four in life was the period of studentship, and students had to live in the woods with their hermit teacher. This Brahmacharya stage was the period of learning Vedic science, religious texts, and other life skills with celibacy and chastity under the guidance of Gurus, and the most surprising fact about this education system was that it was sans any type of discrimination and was so selflessly done.
Post Vedic era and education in India –
Despite the decline in education, India was far ahead of her Western counterparts with her diverse and vast expertise in subjects like Mathematics, Grammar, Astronomy, Literature, Science, Technology, and Metallurgy, to name a few.
During the Medieval period from the 7th century CE to the 13th century CE, India witnessed a severe dark period.
This medieval period was severely affected by ruthless intrusions leading to the unfortunate hibernation of India.
This grim situation became the worst with the British colonization of India.
1947, 15 August –
- The August moment of Independence in India.
- Restoring the country’s pride was a big challenge at that time.
- A bruised and moaning India with numerous dreams to reinstate her dignity.
- Tougher than the imagined task of progress amidst the profound lack of skilled man powers.
- Data on literacy and education show the painful situation of the country.
- On the backfoot, but high on the potential of every Indian, India aimed for the moon.
Why I am writing all about our past here?
With just an 18.33% literacy rate in 1951 and about 77.7% in 2023, we traveled the impossible road of progress in the education regime.
This achievement was tough for all the obvious reasons.
This herculean task was made possible only with our tradition of education, our intrinsic respect for the teachers, and our rich heritage of knowledge in every possible area.
Teachers: The makers of a civilized society and India –
True teachers are those who help us think for ourselves.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
Every year, we celebrate Teacher’s Day on the 5th of September which is the birthday of the first vice president and second president of independent India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Dr. Radhakrishnan was a great teacher, philosopher, and visionary leader.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan had a clear vision of an autonomous India in the 1930s and 1940s.
He also had a vision for an educated India, an India built and guided by truly educated teachers to ensure raising Indian self-consciousness.
Teachers should be the best minds in the country.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
Teachers have been seen as makers of a decent society.
This is the only profession that righteously gives the foundation of society the desired strength and stability.
By giving extra respect and recognition to the teachers, we only tend to the tender talents of the growing children who are about to learn to fly in the limitless horizon.
In return, teachers just want a simple promise of job security and a sufficient salary for their invaluable service to the Government.
Few more words for the teachers and the society –
Any kind of creative flare is not possible without righteous guidance from some reputed persons.
There can be prodigies, but that is in limited numbers.
We have examples of many talented kids whose work vanishes because of a lack of proper support.
There are instances of many hard-working normal kids who reach the top with their continuous and sincere efforts.
Teachers are hidden heroes of society who smoothly teach us – how to work, hard work, teamwork, organized work, disciplined work, dedicated work, respect for work, and work for the betterment of the world community.
From a vulnerable entity to an unstoppable important asset of society – Teachers help an individual in many ways to make society liveable, lovable, and laudable.
