Do teachers miss ‘their’ children at school? - EDITORIAL

Teacher-principal unions are roaring like lions. Probably they don’t hear the silent cry of students who are stuck at home. As much as 4.3 million students have been deprived of classroom education for over one and a half years because of the pandemic. Now their online education too has come to a stop because of striking teachers. 
The bright ones having a better focus on studies are following some kind of education, but the rest are struggling to face these challenging times. Students have been noticed being glued to the laptop or mobile phone screens. Computer or mobile phone addiction by children is a talked about subject in the circles of parents. 

At present technology and private tuition masters are replacing these school teachers. It would be soon before students start missing the motherly touch of teachers; something only possible within the school and inside the classroom premises.
We must take note that not all teachers are willing to join strike actions. Some of these teachers have to participate in strikes or else face the consequences. 

Whether the teacher-student relationships have soured can only be seen once the students return to schools once the environment is safe and the crisis in education is solved. 
Teachers must also keep in mind that they have to set an example as to how individuals must do their part when entangled in a crisis. Teachers have conveniently ignored the fact that online sessions must go on while they demand for their rights. If they managed both these activities they would have set a healthy example and really put the regime on the backfoot. 

Recently the teachers and the principals ignored a call to return to duty. Now the government plans to declare teacher, teacher advisory and principal services as closed services by November 20. This is for the purpose of eliminating salary discrepancies in the teaching profession. 

We do see a problem when teachers are earning a lot less when compared to a daily-paid labourer. We also feel like supporting these graduate and trained teachers in their strike actions when we see quite a few lawmakers who have not passed the GCE O’ Level Examination enter parliament and enjoy six figure salaries and thumping perks. When the government is unable to allocate 6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product for education annually then we do have serious issues in education. 

But teachers can take a cue from other industries where workers or employees have taken salary cuts or settled for a lesser pay just to save the institutes that employ them. Such employees have shown the world how to take responsibility during a crisis. They know that life must go on!
Teachers must realise that they don’t have a future without students. Sometimes challenges within the classroom can bring the best out of a teacher or make the teacher a better product. And unlike in other professions school teachers must face students who don’t fall into the group of those who succeed some day! 

A facebook post some months ago related to a female teacher who had visited a garage to get her bike repaired. The mechanic did a great job with the task of putting the bike in order. Later the teacher had noticed that the mechanic was an old student of hers who had dropped out of school. The mechanic too noticed the teacher and refused to charge a fee. The teacher once returning home related the entire episode in a facebook post with a footnote which said: “As a teacher I have failed”. 
If these striking teachers don’t want to be associated with the word ‘failure’ they must think of their students and return to online education.