Falling standards

Govt schools must bring their lost glory back by hiring and paying the right teachers

My educational journey began in the mid-fifties when I was admitted to New Government High School, Dhaka and ended in 1963 when I passed my matriculation examination from the same school. But even after six decades, my heart still goes through the same sentimental feeling in remembering personalities like our headmaster Sir Anwar. Always clad in a suit he was not only a source of inspiration for us but a role model too. With a cigar in his mouth, he resembled British prime minister Winston Churchill. He remained a source of inspiration for the students even after his retirement. For him, teaching was a passionate profession – and I believe that passion is something that every teacher should have.

On the other hand, I can never forget the power and lasting presence of effective teachers like our Maths teacher Sir Ikramullah, the Geography teacher Sir Abbasi, Urdu teacher Sir Darvesh – all of them used to wear a Sherwani and Pajama. English teacher Sir Ishaq, I remember used to wear neatly tailored Safaris. They all played a major role not only as a teacher but as guides and mentors. Their motivational variables also contributed a lot to our learning. In short, they all were highly respected teachers who taught us the real meaning of the old saying ‘Plain living high thinking.’ That encouraged us to make our lives more meaningful rather than affluent—probably still that is the culture of most of the Dhakawalls.

I remember in my class if any student somehow found lagging in his studies the class teacher used to tell him “This is not the standard of work I know you’re capable of. We need to find out what is happening and make a plan to get you back on track.” Such a remark from a respected teacher was enough to motivate those students to work harder. That kind of interpersonal relationship between teachers and students is missing these days because teachers are no more interested in the teaching business. In fact, for most of them, teaching is some sort of stopgap arrangement.

Though compassionate and understanding teachers were so strict that I remember there were two notorious brothers Salahuddin Bhatti and Alauddin Bhatti. They used to smoke in secret, hiding from teachers out of respect. But now with a new breed of teachers, students are found smoking openly without any fear.

A study by the Aga Khan University, conducted with 644 girls in Karachi, suggests that at least 16 per cent of the girls have started smoking at the age of 15, while more than six per cent smoke at least once a month at that age. Teachers of these students either have no check on them or they, in the name of so-called ‘freedom’ to maintain the status symbol, have chosen to let their students do whatever they want.

So naturally, teachers today are losing the respect which once use to be their hallmark. The first and foremost reason is a lack of command of the subject they are supposed to teach. During the good old days when teaching was considered a passion, the teacher used to come to class fully prepared. As James Stronge writes in his influential book Qualities of Effective Teachers, “organising time and preparing materials in advance of instruction have been noted as the most important aspects of effective teaching.” It was the best of times when teachers emanated out of knowledge, passion and compassion. So only those who had the urge to impart knowledge joined this profession.

Now things have changed. Teaching, once the noblest profession, has rather turned into a job which someone does when he fails to get any other job. As a result, schools, especially the government-run, fail to get qualified and devoted teachers and that is also a reason why ‘the so-called society’ no longer considers it a well-respected profession. More so because respect is now being measured in terms of one’s earnings and unfortunately teaching in schools is a very low-paid job. So ‘good for nothing’ people are coming into this profession.

Here it is pertinent to mention that the salary paid to school teachers today is not enough to run a kitchen. To make both ends meet, good teachers start giving tuition at home and their priority is not the school class that requires their devotion. Some even join coaching centres for better pay, leaving the schools at the mercy of unqualified, disinterested and least-motivated teachers.

In developed countries, teaching is one of the most important and respected professions. For instance, teachers are not only among the 10 most in-demand jobs in Canada but are on 8 of the 11 in-demand lists of the Provincial Nominee Program of Canada for 2022.

According to Job Bank Canada, secondary school teachers can find their way to Canada and expect 53,700 new jobs between 2019 and 2028, meaning Canada’s education sector will be in demand for a substantial number of years. Combine that with great benefits and a chance to earn up to $96,000 per year, highly qualified and well-trained teachers are migrating from Pakistan in search of a brighter future, leaving behind our government schools at the mercy of ghost teachers.

A case in point is the recent decision of the Sindh government to revise the Teacher Recruitment Policy, 2021 and reduce the criteria for passing marks from 55 per cent for males and 50 per cent for females. For minority candidates, it is 40 per cent marks. It’s indeed very unfortunate that instead of offering reasonable salaries to appoint qualified teachers they prefer to appoint unqualified worthless candidates.

Sadly, enough, the Sindh Chief Minister admitted that even after lowering the passing marks to 40 per cent, 18 talukas would still be deficient in teachers. “The candidates who secured marks less than 40 per cent in these 18 deprived talukas of different districts will be allowed to attend special courses and pass a test to be conducted by a third party for their recruitment,” he said.

According to the Sindh education minister, there are 11,000 teachers but no students. They serve in schools with no students and drawing salaries without work, burdening the state’s limited resources. Also, it’s no secret that influential people are using redundant schools as their guesthouses; thus it’s better to close them down.

Such criminal negligence towards education is enough to prove that there is no effort whatsoever from the government to help teachers to regain their lost status. The state of education in Sindh is ample proof of the policy-makers apathy. Zubeida Mustafa, a known columnist has rightly said, “The approach is positively anti-social. While their children study in elitist private schools and foreign universities, they are not at all concerned about the education of the commonman’s offspring.”

Once Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali said that the only solution to improve the standard was to make it mandatory for officials to send their children to government schools.

A report rightly suggests that the government, therefore, needs to focus on improving the standards of schools in the province — especially the secondary schools which number a little above 2,000 as against around 49,000 primary schools — improving the standard of education in government schools by engaging quality teachers offering them better salaries; and providing all the fundamental facilities, if not the high-tech ones available in developed countries of the world. The education authorities, the minister, in particular, have a lot to do in the context of raising the standard of teaching to a truly noble and highly respectable profession.