A Happy Teacher’s Day? Not really

A courteous ‘Happy Teacher’s Day’ greeting on Teacher’s Day today may remain just that — a courtesy. A majority of the teachers are unhappy and regret being in the profession that is considered noble by all standards, a study has found.

The Right to Education (RTE) act with its perceived negative implications and the tough task of managing unruly students are stated as the two main reasons for 70% of teachers being unhappy with their profession and regretting their choice for joining it, a study by Brain Centre, an education research centre, has found.

Most continue teaching merely for the monthly salary to sustain their families, compromising on quality of education in the bargain, the study reveals.

The study, conducted over four years in Bangalore, has come up with shocking revelations that a majority of the teachers are considering quitting the profession to join lucrative ones.
The study found that 10% of the teachers are “fed up” with their profession and are planning to quit for greener pastures. D Shashi Kumar, director, Brain Centre, shared the survey findings with DNA on the eve of Teacher’s Day, saying, “Teachers are facing both mental and physical stress. I am shocked to see the responses from the teachers; many of them are interested in joining some other jobs based on their qualifications.”

He said the survey found that there was no protection for teachers from being penalised without a reason. Many teachers are forced to pay penalties for no fault of theirs. “I have documents to prove this and I will submit them to the state government,” he said.

The study has found shocking instances of students giving vent to their grudges to lie about their teachers punishing them, and of Class II students forging their parents’ signatures on marks cards to conceal their poor performances.

Shashi Kumar said most teachers, despite witnessing bad behaviour among their students could not come up with remedies. “The recent RTE act has banned, not just corporal punishment, but any kind of punishment. This, the teachers cannot accept. If it continues that way, teachers will be forced to forget quality of education,” he said.

Several teachers have given in writing that they wanted to quit the profession on not being able to tolerate the pressures at work, he said. The Brain Centre study came across these shocking findings by chance while mainly researching corporal punishment in schools.

He said various teachers’ welfare associations were doing little to mitigate the mental and physical stress among teachers.