Special
Feature: Teachers’ Day (5th September)
Recognizing
teachers as nation builders
*PRIYADARSHI
DUTTA
September
5 is observed as Teachers’ Day in honour of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975),
the second President of India, who was born on that day. But how did it get
instituted? Dr. Radhakrishnan’s 75th birthday on September 5, 1962
came within weeks of his being elevated to the President’s post. He was flooded
with felicitations from home and abroad, a testimony to his wide reputation as
professor and exponent of Indian philosophy. Those who wished him included international
figures like Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Daisetz T. Sukuzi, Horace Alexander, Arnold
J. Toynbee, Kingsley Martin, and Charles A. Moore etc. At home, politicians cutting
across party lines hailed his contribution to education and Indic scholarship.
“But above all, he is a great teacher, from whom all of us have learnt much,
and will continue to learn”, stated Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in his
message.
But
Dr. Radhakrishnan wished that his 75th birthday should not be
celebrated as such. It is should the observed as Teachers’ Day in honour of the
noble profession he had been attached with throughout his career. The Teachers’
Day was instituted thus in 1962. The convention of collecting funds for
teachers in need started that very year. But due to the Indo-Chinese War erupting
on October 20, 1962 the money collected during 1962 and 1963 were put in
defence bonds.
Every
year the President of India gives away National Awards to teachers on September
5. It is awarded to outstanding teachers of primary, middle and higher
secondary schools in recognition to their meritorious services. Not only is the
academic efficiency recognized, but genuine interest/affection towards
children, reputation in local community and involvement in social life of the
community also considered.
These
awards are being given annually since 1959, even before the Teachers’ Day came
into existence. In 1968, the scope of the awards was extended to the teachers
of Sanskrit Pathshalas run on traditional lines. In 1976, the scope was further
enlarged to include Arabic/Persian teachers of Madrasas. Further reforms in
1993 led to the inclusion of teachers from Sainik Schools, Navodaya Schools and
schools run by the Atomic Energy Education Society. Maximum numbers of awards could
go up to 350 during a year. The awardees are selected through three tier system
of district committee, state committee and union government.
India
has a long tradition of venerating the teachers. In the Vedic times the
students were taught at teacher’s home, serving him in their free time. It was
called Gurukul system, which was in principle free of cost, except the
student would pay a Gurudakshina (a symbolic fee in cash, kind or vow). The
emphasis was on moulding their character as much as honing their intellectual
faculty. A student in ancient India was identified by the lineage of his
teacher. This gave rise to the concept of Guru-Shishya Parampara i.e.
mentor-disciple relationship. In later centuries the teacher would reside in
student’s home – like Dronacharya staying with the Kauravas in the Mahabharata.
The
subsequent centuries saw the rise of residential universities, which were
apparently copied from Buddhist monasteries. It meant teachers and students met
on neutral ground. The Taxilla University in northwestern India (in present day
Pakistan) was world’s first university. India had several universities like
Taxilla, Nalanda, Vikramshila, Odantapuri, Vallabhi, Pushpagiri etc. But their
destruction in the medieval era by foreign invaders left a great void in
education.
Teachers
again came to the fore with introduction of modern education in India in early
nineteenth century. The Hindu College (estd.1817), now Presidency University in
Kolkata, was the first institution of higher learning in the modern sense of
the term. This institution played a major role in the creating a modern
national discourse. The youthful teacher who inspired it was Henry Louis Vivian
Derozio (1809-1831), an Anglo-Indian who lived merely for 23 years. He captured
the imagination of his pupils by inculcating rationalism and humanism of
contemporaneous Europe in them.
He
also wrote the first known patriotic poem of India viz. My Native Land
–“My country in thy days of glory past/A beauteous halo circled round thy brow/And
worshipped as a deity thou wast/Where is thy glory, where the reverence now”.
Derozio was hounded out of Hindu College, by irate parents of his pupils, who
accused him of corrupting the morale of his followers. He passed away
prematurely shortly afterwards. But his pupil-disciples who were called
Derozians or Young Bengal grew up into leading lights of the society. They
included likes of Radhanath Sikdar (1813-1870) who trigonometrically calculated
the height of Mt.Everest, orator Ram Gopal Ghose and writer Peary Chand Mitra.
In
western India it was Bal Shastri Jambehkar (1812-1845) who was pioneer teacher
to a generation of public personae. A teacher of mathematics at newly
established Elphistone Institution (now Elphinstone College) in Bombay his students
included Dadabhai Naoroji, V.N. Mandlik, Sorabji Shapurji, Dr. Bhau Daji. They were
the pioneers of public life in erstwhile Bombay Presidency. Jambhekar, along
with Rugoonath Hurrychanderjee and Junardhan Wassoodewjee, brought out
English-Marathi bi-lingual newspaper Bombay Durpan (Bombay Mirror) in
January, 1832.
Poet
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and political leader Madan Mohan Malaviya
(1861-1945) donned to role of educationists. Tagore through his Visva Bharati
University and Malaviya through his Banaras Hindu University represented two
different approaches to national education. They stand out as iconic teachers.
With
increasing commercialization and professionalization of education, value system
is under threat. If education is seen as commodity, then role of teacher is
reduced to mere service provider. The rise of distance education and online
education has made teacher content provider. But professional and commercial
achievements alone cannot be benchmark of success in life. Nor can these alone
lead to a happy society. Idealism and sensibilities have profound role to pay.
Teachers are best placed to instill and inspire those virtues. Every one of us owes
something good to our teachers. It is often the noblest part of us.
******
The writer is an
independent researcher and columnist based in New Delhi.
Views
expressed in the article are author’s personal.