Dubai
When a child first goes to school, it is the teacher who helps him or her adjust to the surroundings. A good teacher can positively influence a child and change the course of his or her life. But, many people do not truly understand the effort teachers put in.
Maria Pelagia E. Lamasan works as a shadow teacher to help children with special needs.
The Dubai-based resident said: “Teaching is a very challenging profession. You have to deal with and meet a lot of different people. You have to face a lot of trials from your administration, colleagues, parents and students. You need to meet various deadlines, such as submitting lesson plans, preparing test papers for students, preparing the grades and report cards to name a few.”
When it comes to her students’ parents, she says that they sometimes forget that their child isn’t the only one in class.
She said: “Parents want the best for their children, but fail to understand that teachers have to handle a minimum of 25 students in a class. Some of the students are not entirely independent yet. Imagine how difficult it must be for a teacher to cater to everyone’s needs. You cannot avoid the children who are messy, noisy or bullies.”
Despite all the difficulties, Lamasan loves the profession.
She said: “Teaching is a noble profession and teachers should be respected for their role in moulding the children’s personalities. We teach them, guide them and give appropriate advice. A school is like a second home for a child and we understand that. When we graduate, we go on to become professionals. But, we forget the educators that helped us get there.”
Lakshmi Nandakumar, a biology teacher based in Sharjah, has taught at two different schools in the emirate.
She said: “A teacher is more of a facilitator, mentor, a counsellor and a parent for half a day to his or her students. When I started my career as a teacher in the late 1980s, we had guidelines from the school management to teach the prescribed syllabi and assess the students twice or thrice during an academic year.
“As the years progressed, the teaching fraternity started taking things in a more elaborate manner, imparting education according to individual needs. It was more of a struggle; we had to understand each child’s needs and cater to them, assess their abilities, IQ levels, linguistic skills and learning capacities and then compile this data and apply it while teaching them. We had to maintain this in every class we taught in a day, which was at least seven different ones with strengths of 35 students each.”
Despite the challenges that she has faced in all her years of teaching, Nandakumar is content.
She said: “After about 25 years of teaching, when I attend a social gathering, many of my students come forward and all they want is a hug and a selfie. This is the ultimate reward any teacher can get that after all these years, I am still remembered.”
Neena Malhotra, another biology teacher based in Sharjah, has noticed many changes in the field of teaching in 15 years.
She said: “In its broadest sense, teaching is a process that facilitates learning. It is the specialised application of knowledge, skills and attributes designed to provide unique services to meet the educational needs of individuals and of society. But, there has been a revolution in the field of teaching. The methods of teaching, subject matter, teacher-student ratio and audio-visual aids have all improved. Easy access to digital and electronic media has brought about a lot of changes.”
In Malhotra’s experience, teaching is now considered as just a profession.
She said: “On a whole, teaching as a passion has changed to teaching as a profession in the past few years. It is creative, energetic, noble and respectful profession. But, despite that, we as teachers get to hold our heads high when we receive praises from the parents of the students and co-workers. I am proud to be a teacher.”
Uma Santhosh, a college professor based in Sharjah, teaches several courses like English, business communication and travel and tourism, agreed. She feels that the profession has become more focussed and demanding.
She said: “Every job has its own unique set of challenges and every profession demands certain specific skills and competence. Teaching is no different. Education is tremendously trendy now. What’s deemed to be ‘effective’ today will be deemed ‘worthless’ tomorrow. Traditionally, we were told what, when and how to teach. Thus many teachers simply stood in front of a class and delivered the same lessons year after year. But today’s world is awash in information from a multitude of print and electronics sources. Teaching is thus a multi-faceted profession, which has become more flexible and student-centered.
“Teaching skills have essentially three components — perception, cognition and action. If you have these skills you can teach confidently. My challenge, especially as I teach college students, is how to make them passionate participants. Building a trusting relationship with my students is paramount in fostering academic success. Every student is unique and passionate about something, and I advice them to pursue their passion. I consider teaching a respectable profession, as all professionals underwent education with a teacher. It is a process to prepare the next generation.”
Dr Javaid Iqbal, a teacher based in Dubai, who has been in the profession for 30 years, differs in opinion. He feels that the connect between students and teachers no longer exists.
He said: “The profession of teaching has changed a lot. The attitude and mindset of parents and students has also changed to a great extent, especially when it comes to the respect for teachers. During my career, I have witnessed several emotions and sentiments held by the students towards their teachers in both extremes — both good and bad. In the past, the connection used to be more positive, but in the present it is merely negative.
“All the traditional norms and ethics have acquired a new cover of materialism and glamour.”
Good or bad, teaching and teachers are part of nearly every person’s life. And, sometimes, we fail to give them the respect due because we take their dedication and effort for granted. Today we pay tribute to all teachers in our lives, including our parents.
