Train your Teachers

On February 26, I had the honour of being part of a panel assessing 200 bright students in the 9th edition of the General Ability Test (GAT), conducted by ALOHA and contributed to by Thinksite, a Srinagar-based think (and-do) team that believes thoughtful and relevant research must guide those with decision-making power. Interacting with these young minds was inspiring, but it also reminded me of my own school days—a time marked by both triumph and trauma.

I was in Grade 7, a school topper, when I survived brain haemorrhage (nazar to lagti hai meri jaan). Soon after, I decided to grow my hair long—simply because I liked it. But a teacher, who believed he possessed supernatural powers, warned me to trim it. When I asked why, his response was absurd: “If you grow long hair, your intelligence will diminish.” I reasoned, “By that logic, my five female classmates should fail every subject.” This rationale hurt his fragile ego. He resorted to corporal punishment. This was his way of dealing with a child who dared to question since the ‘teacher’ was not trained how to respond to critical and creative questions. 

This memory resurfaced as I interviewed GAT students. What I observed is that they don’t fear failure, they are brutally honest and they don’t shy away from questioning the status quo. This, I realized, is the gift of private education—a system that encourages critical thinking. What about government schools?

The latest ASER report (January 2025) paints a bleak picture: over 52% of Grade 8 students in Jammu and Kashmir government schools struggle with second-grade textbooks. Only 11.8% of pre-primary teachers in Jammu and Kashmir are professionally qualified. The Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) scheme, launched in 2000, was a disaster. Most appointees were unqualified to teach 21st-century students. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), once hailed as a solution, has left 25% of its schools permanently closed. What have we achieved?

In October 2024, the government admitted that ReT teachers lack expertise in the art of teaching. This revelation has set alarm bells ringing in the education sector of the half-state of J&K. Yet, teachers are assigned irrelevant roles, working in offices instead of classrooms. As this newspaper reported in October last year that besides CEO and ZEO offices, some teachers are working in the DC office, SDM office and Tehsil office despite strict orders from DSEK to join their original place of postings. Why should a teacher juggle BLO as an extra duty? Why not let them focus on what they’re not great at—teaching?

They are hired to teach students but they are doing clerical jobs. This is the dark reality of our public education system. Our sarkaar ignores the systemic failures that have left the children of lesser god behind. 

The archaic B.Ed course

I once enrolled in a B.Ed. course but dropped out since I could not be part of mediocre classroom setting. The joy of learning was absent, replaced by rote memorization and dictatorial teaching methods. B.Ed. programs, meant to train future educators, have become a joke. It is training for pupil teachers and it should be executed by relevant professionals and seasoned educationists. But who trains our teachers? Did we ever try to question this systemic failure?

According to AISHE (All India Survey on Higher Education), nearly 2 million students are enrolled in teacher training programs like B.Ed. and M.Ed. Yet, our teachers fail to deliver. Why? The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has acknowledged this failure, announcing the replacement of current courses with the Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP). But will this be enough?

“Hard water and Soft water”

During an informal interaction at a reputed Srinagar college last fall, I tossed a simple question: “What is the difference between hard water and soft water?” The confident reply was hilarious. “In winter, we use warm water to bathe—that’s soft water. In summer, we use cold water—that’s hard water.” Who is to blame for such ignorance? The students? The teachers? Or a system that fails both?

The truth is, our government teachers with piles of degrees, are poorly trained. They lack accountability, and there is no roadmap to ensure they deliver results commensurate with their salaries. Meanwhile, private school teachers, who shape future leaders, are paid pennies and exploited.

A teacher’s role is not just to impart knowledge but to inspire, guide, and counsel. Schools are not factories; they are spaces to nurture human potential. Yet, our teachers treat students like machines, punishing mistakes instead of learning from them. In universities, professors are busy recycling out-dated slides year after year. They are more concerned about their DA increments than updating their knowledge. The result? Students graduate with degrees that guarantee nothing but unemployment.

In classrooms, critical thinking is choked. Students who ask questions are labelled disruptive. This is the legacy of Henry Ford’s factory model, which sought obedient workers, not thinkers. Our “ji huzoor” teachers perpetuate this system. Dear teachers, you don’t have to dictate answers in the age of AI, train your students how to be quizzical and encourage their raw thoughts. 

Knowing your subject and knowing how to teach are two different things. Kids mimic teachers. If a teacher comes and starts filming the minors and uses that content to earn dollars, he is clearly setting the bad precedent. Then the same teachers go for ‘surprise visits’ during winter vacations and eat wazwan in students’ homes. This is not just the breach of privacy but also a cheap publicity tactic. 

Flawed assessments

Our education system is built on flawed parameters. One-size-fits-all is a failed approach. The government needs to overhaul it. The results of ASER survey tell us that Jammu and Kashmir is currently grappling with learning crisis. Activity-based learning stands as one of the most promising methods to sustain student engagement. Chalk-and-talk method is gone. The NCFTE 2009 recommends that teachers develop storytelling skills and study how students learn. Stories possess the unique ability to entertain, enlighten, and educate. Whether teaching literature, history, or even science, storytelling can simplify complex concepts and make them memorable. 

Whatever doesn’t get grades is called “extracurricular” activity. It is not valued and it is not evaluated. We don’t value breaks/boredom in schools. Boredom is blessing. If Physical Education Trainer is absent, mathematics teacher takes over the class. How is it justified? Why can’t we give them a breathing space?

Students are programmed to believe that everything revolves around reward and punishment. Teachers make us believe constant flow of money in your bank account is success. They don’t let us question why should we live paycheck-to-paycheck? They have set flawed parameters for assessment.

Good grades are equivalent to success. I say not really. If you don’t have a government job, you are a failure. I say, absolutely not.  People are doing much better at alternative options. If you have a certain degree in a certain domain, you are successful, I challenge it with the reason that success is subjective and people are very happy doing what they love the most. Backbenchers are not successful. No, you do not have to be an attention-seeker.  Some loudmouths making their presence felt in the classroom are not necessarily ‘genius’ students, as a teacher, your role is treating students equally irrespective of who is who. If you don’t study well, you will be a labourer/farmer/Mason/vendor etc. It is an insensitive remark and programmes students to belittle other professions. Maths/science is success, humanities/languages/arts is not. It is a totally baseless and irrelevant assumption. Teachers don’t engage in meta-learning—the idea that teaching is a two-way process. Instead, they lack imagination and empathy, are bloated with ego, treating students as passive recipients of knowledge.

Our children are overburdened, shuttling between schools and tuitions from dawn to dusk. By the time they return home, exhausted, we tell them, “Slow and steady wins the race.” But this misinterpretation of the hare and tortoise fable is damaging. We humiliate the hare’s strengths, glorifying the tortoise’s slow pace. But why? Each child has unique talents. The tortoise is not meant for racing. If your child is a tortoise, why force them to compete with a hare? The lesson is not about speed but about choosing the right race. Let your hares hop and tortoises crawl. 

Have teachers failed us? 

I recently watched Schooling the World- filmed in Ladakh; this terrific documentary highlights how kindness and compassion are dying in education. We’ve moved from wisdom to knowledge, and now to hollow information. Teachers must introspect: Are they honest about their role? Are they preparing students for life?

Have you heard of Dogme EL? It is commonly called teaching unplugged. It is an approach to teaching that prioritizes conversation and learner generated content over pre-planned materials. It was introduced by Scott Thornbury in 2000 and is inspired by the “Dogme 95” film movement, which rejected artificial elements in filmmaking in favour of more natural and spontaneous approach. In a tech-driven world, teachers must evolve from being sole sources of knowledge to facilitators of learning. 

In colleges, ideas are nurtured. But scores of students from Amar Singh College reached out about the gender segregation in canteens. Food knows no gender. Food is a way to connect with others. Why should a college suppress its students from eating together? These adults question the partition. Another point is a moral policing by female professors. What are you trying to prove by not letting adults eat and share their food, discuss ideas together and make friends for life?

Absolute obedience is policing not teaching. Not letting the child’s curiosity flourish, not letting them discuss out-of-the-box topics exposes your tunnelled vision as a teacher. The problem with our teachers is that they don’t allow our children to express their ideas and add their experiences to the answer. The real meaning of education is to bring out the hidden potential out. But what you are doing in a classroom is not education, it is indoctrination. And it is toxic.

During tea break at an event I attended late last year, I struck up a conversation with someone and asked him what he did for living. His response left me stunned. “I’m a regular columnist for a newspaper,” he said, followed by a brief pause, “and I’m also a teacher in the education department.” How could someone who holds the noble responsibility of shaping young minds introduce himself with such indifference, almost as if teaching was an afterthought? A teacher should stand tall, proud to declare, “I am a teacher. I shape lives. I build futures.” But no—his tone, his hesitation, spoke volumes. It’s not just disappointing; it’s infuriating. These are the individuals entrusted with moulding the next generation, yet they seem to lack the passion, the pride, the very essence of what it means to be an educator. Are they not trained well? Or are they simply poorly trained, going through the motions without understanding the weight of their role? This isn’t just a profession; it’s a calling. And to see it treated so casually is nothing short of tragic.

In a recent interview with Indiaspend, Arvind Mishra, a professor of psychology (specialising in education) at JNU said that teaching does not always attract the best and brightest talent. “It is a job performed by those who do not have the wherewithal to develop and pursue their professional ambitions.” Mishra’s statement reminds me of Allama Iqbal:

Shikayat Hai Mujhe Ya Rab! Khudawandan-E-Maktab Se

Sabaq Shaheen Bachon Ko De Rahe Hain Khaakbazi Ka

(O God! I have a complaint against the custodians of education. They're teaching the eaglet to bow in the dust).