Nothing for Teachers
Nothing for TeachersBy Editor
Saturday October 06, 2007 [04:00]
It is said that teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions. True as this may be, it appears that we have abandoned the clear purpose of this very noble profession. Instead of making this profession what it really is, we have diverted our attention to other less important things.
Actually, when one critically looks at the way the teaching profession is looked at nowadays, it is easy to agree with JF Kennedy when he said: "Modern cynics and skeptics see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing." Indeed, gone are the days when teaching was respected as a profession.
The way things stand today, a teacher is neglected to fend for himself or herself. These days, the conditions of service for our teachers have deteriorated to unimaginable levels and the consequences have been a decline in the quality of teaching which has ultimately resulted in the production of ill-prepared or ill-equipped pupils or students.
While we know very well that things such as salaries are an important aspect of teachers’ conditions of service and poor remuneration is a determining factor of the degree of professionalism that can be expected, nothing much has been forthcoming for teachers.
For years, our teachers have continued to cry for improved conditions of service, for a better pay. Unfortunately, their plea continue to fall on deaf ears. But what we should know is that poor pay for our teachers means a fall in professional standards.
As long as we neglect the conditions of service for our teachers, we should expect less in terms of standards and professionalism will continue to be compromised as long as we neglect the needs of our teachers.
A number of teachers today remain miserable and problems associated with teachers' pay continue to arise very frequently. Teachers - especially those in the rural communities - still cannot fathom why they should suffer before they receive their meagre salaries.
Until now, teachers commanded a lot of respect in their communities. But these days, teachers have been pushed off their former position of glory.
Their conditions of service keep deteriorating and as we have already said, with such poor conditions come poor quality teaching, which in turn churns out students who are barely able to read and write.
As a result of poor conditions of service, teachers have to devise ways and means of surviving.
They have to engage in all sorts of things, such as petty trading, providing extra tuition at a fee, among other activities. We are not saying that it is wrong for teachers to be industrious or to engage in entrepreneurial activities.
However, our worry is that this is normally done at the expense of the needs of pupils and students because they are neglected by teachers who have to find alternative means of making ends meet since their income from teaching is not adequate.
Due to poor pay, many of our teachers are now being exploited by all sorts of moneylenders and they are sinking deeper and deeper into debt because they have to find ways of surviving beyond the meagre salaries that are being offered at the moment. Surely, how do we expect teachers to find decent accommodation when K100,000 is all that is available for them?
These are the problems which need to be addressed by the government. And given the miserable conditions of service that teachers are presently in, it is quite encouraging that the majority of them are still very dedicated to their profession.
And this is as it should be because teaching, as we have said already, is a noble profession - teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.
And as Zambia Congress of Trade Unions general secretary Roy Mwaba has rightly observed, teachers are in the profession because they have a passion for the children.
As he puts it: "In the children, we see ministers, engineers and all and pride comes from that.
We are role models and are supposed to make a difference in society..." And of course as Mwaba admits, we must accept the reality that there are some teachers who are not exemplary in their conduct and much more is desired of them.
To such teachers, we can only remind them that teachers are known to teach more by what they are and not by what they say. To that effect, there is a saying that the mediocre teacher tells; the good teacher explains; the superior teacher demonstrates; but the great teacher inspires.
Indeed, a teacher who attempts to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.
To return to our main subject, again we want to remind the government that it has an obligation to do something about the plight of our teachers by ensuring that their conditions are looked at and addressed accordingly and appropriately.
We have been saying this for many years now and we will not stop doing so as long as these concerns are not given attention. Granted, teaching is a selfless and noble profession. However, those who are selfless and noble deserve to be treated better and with a lot of dignity.
We do not think that teachers will be honoured for their selflessness by subjecting them to poor conditions. Rather, the opposite is very true.
Teachers can only be truly honoured for their selflessness by improving their conditions of service. And this is what we expect our government to be doing.
We can't allow a situation where there is always nothing for teachers while there is plenty for others.
Labels: EDITORIAL, TEACHERS, ZNUT
posted by MrK @ 6:40 AM
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