CHANGING
ROLE OF TEACHERS
A teacher has to renew
himself each and every day as his students are full of youthful energy and
vigour. They are able to internalize new technologies and novel scientific
advancements with great ease. As facilitators, teachers need to keep pace with
their students. This is true not only to teaching profession … but true to all
professions. A tailor, for example, stitched ‘bellbottoms’ in 1990s. if he
continues to stitch clothes in the same style and fashion followed then, he
will have to close shop. He has to fall in line with the world.
‘I don’t know how to
handle computers, I am used to pen and paper or blackboard’… teachers who stay
aloof from the changing time have been rejected by time itself. Likewise, this
is the time of specialists. Doctors with only MBBS degree have less value. He
has to upgrade himself with M.S. or M.D. degree. One has to specialize in any
particular field. But it is not right to run a hotel with the tagline that ‘we
serve only special dosa’. A hotel has to serve other things than only special
dosa. This is the time of multiplexes. There should be specials as well as
other items available to suit different tastes. Positive attitude towards being
constantly updated, the urge to be skillful in one’s chosen field, the urge to gain
knowledge all that is relevant to one’s chosen profession, always ready to
accept and learn new technologies and novel ideas – all these are basic
requirements in all professions.
These are basic
requirements to be successful even in the most ordinary jobs. Teachers who
shoulder the responsibility to guide generations, need these qualifications
more than others. The changes happening in education systems, the pros and cons
of the country’s education system, the way developed countries put technology
to good use in classroom teaching and the latest in educational technology …. A
teacher has to possess unquenchable thirst for these things. If it is not so, it
is only the students who are affected and suffer.
If a tailor is not
worried or bothered about latest trends, it is his personal loss. Whereas, if a
teacher is behind his times, it is the loss of all his students, their families
which in turn will affect the society and the country. A teacher needs this
wide perspective to be passionate about his job.
It is now time for the
best human brains i.e. the teachers to go hand in hand with technology to make
our country walk shoulder to shoulder with other developed countries.
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Courtesy anantha vikatan 10.08.2014
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By S.AKILANDESWARI
