Academia: An Academician’s Perspective

The other day I was with one of my esteemed friends and we were discussing Academia and its problems. It was an interesting conversation which, pray I put forth for the society to ponder. His name is Ashish (name changed) and the topic taken up was the role of teachers. Ashish said, “Chandan do you know what teachers can do to society?” I said, “Apparently yes, as I am in the same line of business.” Ashish said, “I mean look at the way things have gone these days with teachers molesting students, beating them up, extracting money on every single pretext, and sometimes even misleading them.” “Ashish, agreed” I said, “What you say is correct and I am fully aware of what is happening around”. My reaction to his statements was pretty tepid.

The very next day I saw one article on teachers which was dedicated to the insensitivity of the teachers towards their students. The third incident which really made me sit up and seriously consider the situation was the reaction of a person from a reputed industry and his convictions regarding academia as a useless and a fossilized system.

I beg to differ on the very issues that these people have put forth and therefore this article. When people start discussing academia they are like champions of the system supposedly knowing its ins and outs. So far so good, what is amazing is the perspective in which they put the profession. Lets take a simple case of primary education and the standards of such schools. Except for a few handful who are considered to be better, the other schools hardly pose a point of attraction and the admissions are a result of seat parochialism in the so called better institutions. While some schools simply don’t have students enough to justify their existence. It’s the basis on which the education is provided, that makes the difference. Privately owned schools would be more careful in their approach than government owned as they obviously make a living out of the name they have earned.

First and the foremost question that parents normally ask is how is the education of the school? In its garb, they are asking as to whether teachers are being paid their salaries fully or not? If they are not paid full salaries, they don’t do justice to the job. “Tere teacher ne yehi sikhaya kya tuzhe” (Did your teacher teach you this?) My question is why only blame the teachers for the entire education fiasco? Let us put some basic questions to deliberate:

Ø Are Teachers being paid their full salaries?
Ø What incentives do the teachers get in lieu of a better job?
Ø What are the factors making tuitions so important?
Ø Are we able to attract the best of talent in the society for the sake of this profession?
Ø Are we seeing teaching as an unavoidable nuisance?
Ø Do we see teaching as only a profession and not the process?

So what’s so new in these questions? Everybody knows the obvious answers. However there is a need to change the perception.

A primary school teacher in a well to do school earns a salary of Rs. 2,500 to 5,000 pm. as a Shikshan Sewak. Looking at the inflation in India, that’s a bare minimum sum for survival. So the point of argument would be that the education fees will spiral if more salary is paid. Yes it would. And in certain cases may even hamper the education of the people coming from poor class families. That’s where the government role can be more constructive. No I am certainly not suggesting any subsidies. Subsidies spell death for the economy. Government can have a special purpose vehicle with private industries and institutions where all sort of Corporate Social Responsibility can be directed towards development of Health, Education and other basic amenities. These might be in some form of money, infrastructural built ups or even to some extent sabbaticals through a programmed exchange of talent between schools and organizations for a minimum period of 6 months extendable to a maximum of 2 years. Some companies and organizations are already into it. Extension of all tax benefits for such purpose can also bring down the cost of learning considerably. So also an income tax exemption for the period of sabbatical can also attract more talent into this profession.

In education or academia there is no concept of any positive incentives. I didn’t mention negative incentives because they are ample. If we put teaching profession in a perspective of what they are giving to the society (That’s an FAQ), then I say they are already shouldering a Social responsibility by working on minimum possible wages. If we compare the wages being paid to the people in the industry and the wages being paid to the teachers the ratio is 10:1. Teachers are no where near in terms of their salary parity with their industrial counterparts. If you need talent in teaching, you need to pay. (Same as in quality. Better Quality means more money). Now that’s where the capitalists have mostly gained as they see education as a business (I mince no words for it). Again a populist contention that we are not doing it for charity. Good enough!!! But so also it should not be seen as a money minting business. (I mentioned the word ‘business’ initially also). A realistic approach to this notion can sort out so many ills if and only if the government is hell bent on doing so. Enforcement agencies also need to be put under scanner for their actions as it affects thousands of students.

Quality of education would only come if the industry is able to attract the best possible talent. When I asked Ashish as to what his personal opinion was on teaching, he said that it was a very very important part of the society and everybody should take it seriously. On that I asked him whether he would encourage his daughter to go to academia, he said ‘NO’. That is double standards I said and asked him to give reason. He said that the profession has no longer remained a noble one and people are taking undue advantage of the profession by running tuition classes or bringing bad name to it (He consciously skirted the issue of money, probably sensing my hostility, which I am sure was working at the back of his mind) . It’s a vicious cycle. Less talent would degrade education further leading to more ills like tuitions. Because of the money in this field, better talent will be tempted to leave their noble work leading to further degradation. Again the question of money becomes paramount important. Its like an industry where if you pay more, you are able to control corruption to quite an extent.

People like Ashish also see teaching profession as a degradation of status in the society. Where is your son working. Oh! He is in the U.S working with Oracle. In contrast when my parents answer it looks like this, “Oh! He is a Lecturer in an XYZ college in Nagpur. A son working in Oracle means a better status in terms of money and respect in contrast to my parents’ son who is probably doing something out of compulsion as he could not land a better job in the industry (Very true. 95% of the cases have been found to be belonging to this category). When one of my peers from the industry visited our college for recruitment, the reaction he gave reflected hypocrisy which I believe is encrusted in most people. While going about his job, he wanted some things which the college was unable to deliver in time. His outburst was amusing. He cursed the education system, the academia and even didn’t hesitate to criticize the teacher. (I am obviously hiding his age and experience). Again if you see his standpoint, it reflects the way in which he was groomed in the academia and how he turned hostile, after joining a company, towards the same system in which he was present for atleast 16-18 years. I again would like the society to see the other side of the coin. Why is everybody criticizing the system, instead of improving it? Fault finding is an easy job. Its like swinging the sword from outside and killing a person or two when you are in a battle but playing safe. If the system so concerns you, why not become a part of the system and then fight it out in the centre? This probably was the most abject reaction that motivated me to write this article.

Why are teachers only responsible for such hostilities? Why can’t parents also shoulder the same responsibility with the teacher? After all the child was not admitted to the school as soon as he was born. A common reaction by parents is “Enough is enough. Instead of the child troubling us all the time let him go to school. Thoda der to aaram milega (We will get respite at least for the time he goes to school). Me and my wife are no exceptions to this reaction and 90% of the parents think alike. Moreover the competitive environment of today has created more machines than humans. So instead of having a humanitarian approach, the student prefers a more instantaneous solution which infact is a bigger cause of concern.

The attitude of teachers is also to be blamed for such hopeless situation. Teachers probably forget one thing that, they need to be learners first and then teachers afterwards. Teachers also cannot be right at all times and they should also accept the fact that some students can also be their mentors in terms of knowledge and execution. Such students are sharp, well informed and have that attitude towards research where they explore things deeply. In such cases, there is no harm in admitting the student’s superiority and then striving to achieve his level of depth. More admittedly so, the profession has taken a beating lately due to some miscreants creating all sorts of troubles in the system. The level of corruption has gone up due to money mindedness (I would not call it innovation as probably they would contend, as my belief of education is a complete process primarily promoting successful transformation of young minds into better citizens; be it in any form and profession) so also the negativity carried in the minds of the teachers regarding their rejection by the society by and large.

I would like to conclude on a positive note that some institutions have started doing core research works and are also able to commensurate salaries with the experience and knowledge gained. Moreover such institutions are receiving a lot of funding from the same industry which rejects many such institutions based on certain parameters and subject to their own criterion of acceptance. The concept of research and cheaper technology cannot be realized without the help of educational institutions as this is the area where people have enough time and resources available with them to do a concrete research. The cost of developing technology and idea will also be low compared to industrial research as it forms a part and parcel of the teaching profession. This not only solves the problem of attracting talent but also the question of money as more and more people with an attitude of research would be preferring to join the profession for satisfying their financial, intellectual and ego needs and at the same time bolstering the image of the noble profession called Teaching. Self esteem, pride and ego needs are required by one and all (including teachers). If that is not given to them, they are logically going to react to hog the limelight and prove their worth (irrespective of the ways). Lets also not forget that teachers are as human as others, requiring the same amount of attention and having similar desires. Ofcourse all things cannot be satisfied but at least the society can respect the teachers for their contribution which they are giving dedicatedly.


Chandan Vichoray
Lecturer,
Department of Humanities and Management,
Priyadarshini College of Engineering, Nagpur.
India