The Guru

My daughter is a doctor, son an MBA, . Many times a day I keep hearing these words. Parents proudly talking about their daughters and sons. It warms the heart to see parents speak so lovingly of their wards. But never have I heard a parent who talks about the contribution of teachers to the success of their children, not even as an afterthought.

That's a sad tale in a country which traditionally places the teacher immediately below the parents and just above God: Mata, Pitah, Guru, Devam. We are a race that prided on the Gurukul system. A race that to this day proudly tells the story of Eklavya the archer, who readily offers his thumb to his guru, a person who did not teach him, but in front of whose idol he practised to become an ace archer.

I was traveling by the local train when I heard a man tell his companion: Arre sir, do you know how greedy teachers of today have become? They are charging Rs.2000 a subject for private tutions. I turned around and asked him, have you bothered to find out why they have to give private tutions in the first place? He replied, how does it matter. I tell you these teachers are plain greedy and money crazy.

Before I could reply, he got up to disembark. I sat thinking. Are our teachers greedy as the gentleman in the train and many parents like him think? If they are, then why? It took me just a second to get the answer to my question.

Teachers are underpaid, and their contributions in building and molding society unrecognized. That's what drives them to give private tutions. It's our apathy towards our gurus that is driving them to turn the noble profession of teaching into a commercial venture.

I asked myself whether we as a society have treated our teachers the way they should be, with respect? No, was the answer.

We don't see anything wrong in making money, and our children making more money. But we certainly have a problem if the Teacher wants to make money. We proudly take credit for the success of our children, and only remember our Teachers should our children fail.

Like us, Teachers are human beings too. Like us, they too have families. Like us, they too have children. And like us, they too want to do well in life and want their children to succeed. And as a society what have we done to alleviate the problems of teachers? Nothing.

No wonder Teachers are slowly turning into businessmen and teaching is turning into a commercial venture. As a society what we should do is ensure that the needs of the Teacher is taken care of, the teacher is wellpaid and his future secure. Only then will the future of our children and Society be secure.

The Ambanis of the world can run International schools for the rich. I have no problems with that. But I do have a problem with the general population not treating Teachers with the respect they deserve and to add insult to injury, expecting them to be miracle makers.

So people, if we value the future of our children, then we must learn to value our Teachers. Reward them and recognize them. Believe me, you will be helping India write a new chapter. A country where people will learn to respect one another. Our children are what we make them. And if we are not going to repect our Gurus, we can't expect our children to do the same.