Why Are We Ignoring Our Teachers?

There is a huge gap today in how much someone earns and how much perceived value they add to the society, the country or even humanity. This gap has not gone unnoticed and it is the foundation of a lot of angst and unrest in the world today. Nowhere is it more clearly evident than when one looks at the salary of a primary school teacher and the colossal job they have been  burdened with. It is a tough job to shape young minds in a positive direction. It takes hours of work to ensure that young children in rural India can do basic math or that they can read well. A good teacher can uplift an entire community. Another close friend Nabh Gupta's mother was a Principal of a school in Delhi. He often tells stories of his mother visiting low income households in their neighbourhood convincing parents across religions and communities to send their kids to school. My IIM Indore batch mate Prasid Sreeprakash worked in a slum for 2 years in Kandivili teaching kids while working with Teach For India and his stories would oscillate between being gut-wrenching and joyously innocent. This is life shaping, life changing work. Civilizations are built on these foundations.

There seems to be little appreciation or admiration for the contribution of teachers in nation building. A lot of people seem to forget that they earn salaries of INR 25 Lacs per annum because apart from the genetic lottery that afforded them a good education, tens of teachers working on salaries as low as INR 10,000 a month were putting in the hours to make them who they are. Don't tell this to them - you may become unpopular. People are allergic to anything that shakes their belief that they are singularly responsible for all their great achievements.

Of course it is not just primary school teachers. It could be your sports coach. Or your college professor. Or a coaching class faculty. A mentor at work. Or maybe even your own parent. There are so many people we learn from all our lives. Unfortunately there is no way to quantify the impact a teacher has in a currency that the world values. We are taught the 'multiplier' effect in Economics. A good teacher is actually the ultimate multiplier effect in a country's economy. Imagine the social and economic good that comes out of just one batch of students who are taught and inspired by a brilliant teacher. Smart nations like Finland understand this and have made teachers and the teaching process the centre of their society. Our own country has countless examples of teachers who have changed the world for the better. Prof. H.C.Verma from IIT Kanpur is revered by thousands of students for his life's work. I have personally heard Prof. Sandeep Desai multiple times on Mumbai locals asking for donations for his free schools for under privileged. Vimla Kaul, Rajesh Kumar Sharma, the Super 30 setup are some of the other inspiring stories.

India has a lot of burning social issues - lack of jobs, inequality, lack of skilled labour, rising mob vigilantism and a deep resentment towards a system where the vast majority just cannot move ahead fast enough where as the elite live the good life. India's human capital problem can only be solved if we start focussing on our teachers. Appreciate them, empower them and invest in them. Teachers are the key to securing India's future. Let's make 2019 the year of the Teacher.