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If there was only one thing we could do to improve the quality of our schools, what should that be?
Build Teachers of Tomorrow

Mr. Thomas P. Benjamin
Institute of Rural Management
Anand

To this, there is probably no debate in my mind. The response should be a series of suggestions to this query. Yet I believe the call was for a debate. Debate begins by questioning this premise. Build teachers of tomorrow is one of the solutions. But is the most important. I am not an educationists. Education is my pet theme as the many travails of this nation. To me education has not been thought about seriously in our country. Education is just one of the many consumer items. The target is the parent. The target is not the citizen of tomorrow. Whether a citizen of the world, country or state? Since this question is not the issue, what turns out are schools that are an obligation, schools that are a result of demand - keeping up the Jones’, schools that cater to innovative parents needs, schools preparing for career of the child according to parents perception of child’s future career, etc. In this milieu, the teacher becomes a victim of the system. May be, you argue that the good teacher is one who will irrespective of the system delivers the same result If this is true, or possible, then what is the result? Is this result defined?

The reality, it appears is that we end up creating a teacher. The rest has to be built by the school system. The school management seems to be catering to a specific parent segment. A good teacher is one who will deliver to the parent segment. In other words, if we develop a trait such as ability to teach maths for class 10 and the parent measures the teacher by the marks obtained to help the child get the group required, what skills does the teacher required when seats are limited?

The above argument may seem to go at a tangent to the real issue. The point I am making is that, a good teacher will be as effective as the system to which the school is catering to.

I would argue for defining the national educational policy. Then a good teacher can be prepared to suit that policy. I hope the policy will root for educational quality with equity and justice to all individuals of this nation. Let the difference be seen in the ability of the children and by the ability of the school that the child goes to for the same cost a parent spends. This last sentence may be closer to your debate query. My concern is however different.