Do teachers hold an esteemed position in the society

It is clear at the outset that Humanity survived by its cultures, traditions, customs, the rules and the norms of the societies. In all of these, societies survived by one more important factor which we cannot leave out, “The Teacher”. Who teaches these cultures, traditions, customs, the rules and the norms of the societies directly or indirectly? No doubt, society is made and shaped by humans. Every religion in the world lives on because of the extraordinary teaching of some of the teachers. Many things play an important role in the foundation of the society and one of them is the Teacher. Teachers are the most important layered of our society. We can say that in one sense teacher is the transformer of the society.

Let us see, who is, “Teacher”?

Teacher is someone to whom we can look up to. Whose life is exemplary, whom we always want to follow. Teacher is someone who can give the hope to the hopeless who illumines the darkest heart through the light of the knowledge. So, teacher is the one who lead us to the path of the success in one sense it can also be called as ‘Transformer of the life’. We have very good example of the great teachers like Jesus Christ and Buddha. Buddha spread the message of humanity on the surface of the world. Jesus Christ spread the message of love and the forgiveness on the surface of the world. For they makes us try to be a better person in the world.

 If we see the ancient history of the India, we can say that teachers were considered as the god’s agent who used to spread the light of knowledge in the dark ignorant world. In the ancient India teachers were called as ‘Guru’.  In the ancient Indian history Maharishi Krishna Dewpayan Vyasa is considered as the greatest teacher who have complied the Hindu Sacred scriptures called Vedas and still we celebrate the festival in the respect of this great teacher called ‘Guru Purnima’. Even the Kings appoint the teacher in their court for advices and also to give best education to their princes e.g. ‘Hitopadesha’ was especially written for to teach about morals and the tactics of the society, even they were responsible for the peace in the kingdom. This carries a very important place in the ancient Indian Society.

Teachers’ contributions for the societies were so much immense and countless in every aspect, economically, socially and politically.

Man growth from barbarism into civilisation is supposed to be the theme of History but sometimes, looking back at the great stretches of History, that we are very much civilised or advanced. This is the greatest contribution of the Teacher.

Teachers gave her/his level best for the students or for the world to know from the bottom of the bottom of their heart, sacrificing time, energy, body and soul. Here, we can see in one of the Old Sanskrit books there is a verse by one teacher said, which may be translated as follows: “For family, sacrifice the individual, for community, the family, for the country, the community, and for the soul, the whole world”.  What a soul is, few of us can know or tell, and each one of us can interpret it in a different way, but the lesson this Sanskrit verse teaches us is the same lesson of sacrifice for the larger good.

We, as a human being had forgotten this Sovereign path of real greatness for many a day. But again we seem to have glimpses of it and all the country is astir.

How wonderfully it is to see men and women, boys and girls, smiling going ahead in India’s cause and caring about any pain or suffering! Well, may they smile and be glad for the joy of serving a great cause is also great. They will also be fortunate enough to get the joy of sacrifice.

One has rightly said that on Saturday 11 June 2011, in the Times of India, (Bombay Times), in the column of Back to Basics, in the topic, “A Teacher for Everyone”. Here, it talks about the five typical kinds of teacher’s every time. The angry Professor, the Roaming Professor, the Professor friend, the Mother Professor and the Ideal Professor. In all of these, the Ideal Professor will never have any bad gossip about. The Ideal Professor is everyone’s favourite since he knows exactly when to let student be impulsive and have their way, and when to control them. His ways are so right that students can’t help but agree with everything he does. The Ideal Professor is the kind to always become a mentor for everyone.

Teachers sometime may easy to predict, but each one of them has their own unique way to leave a mark in the student’s life. And no matter however much they are criticised, they only work for the betterment of students.

After knowing this much about teacher the question comes that whether teachers hold the esteem place in our society or not? The answer is in both yes and no. On one hand teachers do hold the powerful and the respectful position at the same time there are some whose voices are unheard. Who have become the victims of injustice and bad politics? There are example of the killing and raping of the teachers. We can say that coin has two sides both good and evil. We also see the teachers getting respect in the society and holding a great position in the society in today’s world.  But still we can say that in our Incredible India. Teachers are considered as god and they hold a bigger respect in the Indian society. “Teachers are like an Anchor in our life and help us find direction, giving us a sense of assurance in each step, that we are on the right path.” Teacher rightly deserves to hold an esteemed position in the society.

We can become god when we teach the truth, if we do our only job which is assigned to us, not to cross the bare boundary, I meant to say, let us teach the subject which is assigned to us and not to disturb others business. Let us be in our business of teaching of our subject.

Let’s conclude by reminding of our First Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in which he said, “The Greatest ambition of greatest men on this planet Earth has been to wipe away the tears of the many”.

So, let us serve for our students, be in “servant hood leadership”, let us wipe one person tears even if we can’t wipe the tears of the many people in our short life span.


Newme Alanpou Noel.
Music Teacher