“Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching – that is what our enthusiasm for education has come to,” said Oscar Wilde long ago in his vitriolic essay The Decay of Lying. Presently when our colleges and universities are already in the process of experiencing CBCS and are all set to undergo a new look National Policy on Education which will be completely teaching-oriented by increasing the workload of teachers, it is feared that the recently proposed six-dayweek plan for teachers would tell upon academic research work relating to the teaching-learning process.

The essayist must rejoice in his grave. Teaching as a profession could not attract many talented young men and women for a long time because of low salaries and low social status attached to it. The UGC Annual Report 1959-60 remarked: “The teaching profession usually attracts only two types of university men. One of these consists of young graduates who have genuine love for teaching and research, and who decide to adopt teaching as their vocation.

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The second consists of a large number of students of average merit who fail to get into more lucrative positions and enter the teaching profession not so much by choice as by the force of circumstances. The first type is rare, and the ranks of the teaching profession tend to be largely filled by the second type.” In advanced countries like the USA, the situation was not altogether different. Encyclopedia of Educational Research (1982) published by the American Educational Research Association explained: “Most teachers are forty, especially if female, plan to stay in teaching until retirement, whereas 41.4 per cent of teachers under thirty are undecided about a teaching future.

More significant, however, was the finding that fewer teachers are certain that they would enter teaching again, given a chance, with about 10 per cent of today’s teachers intending to teach only until something better comes along, and five per cent more definitely planning to leave the profession as soon as possible.” However, in the wake of implementation of the enhanced pay scales for college and university teachers in our country nearly two decades ago, academic authorities have been going great guns with the code of conduct scheme, part of the National Education Policy, which includes presence of teachers at the place for at least 40 hours a week.

Whereas the Rastogi Committee’s handsome pay package was positioned to attract promising talent into the teaching profession, the Committee had a serious observation: “Teachers play a crucial role in the development of the education system as a whole. The number of graduates, postgraduates and research degree holders, coming out of the institutions of higher learning have not only contributed to the development of industrial and service sectors but have also contributed crucial inputs for the education system itself by providing technical and other academic personnel required. While the importance of these contributions cannot be doubted or belittled, questions are increasingly being raised with regard to the relevance and quality of higher education in colleges and universities.”

A great role has been assigned to teachers by the National Council of Teachers Education. The Council envisages a teacher to be one who would like to go into teaching not only to teach in the classroom but also to be an agent of social change. The demand for commitment-driven teachers in an age of information explosion cannot be questioned and the NCTE recommends that teachers must have “commitment to the learner, commitment to the profession, commitment to achieve excellence and commitment to basic human values.”

So, to prove himself as a knowledge worker, a teacher in the information age warrant being equipped with modern competence to work effectively. The code aims at evaluating the teachers’ performance and it stipulates the preparation of an appraisal report. Apart from teaching, the evaluation scheme seeks greater involvement of teachers in allied academic activities included in ‘innovations in teaching’. Among these activities are curriculum designing, teaching methods, laboratory experiments, evaluation methods and preparation of resource materials. Moreover, teachers are to participate in the preparation of syllabi by the board of studies of a university.

Contributing to the question bank is an integral part of the appraisal scheme. The evaluation scheme stresses greater participation by teachers in college tutorials, field works and seminars. Remedial teaching involves taking extra classes which would be aimed at helping weaker students. Correction of answer scripts would be a yardstick of career advancement. Preparation of resource materials, including books and laboratory matters would also be considered a factor for determining career advancement.

Community work is another criterion for the evaluation of teachers which includes the teachers’ activities in inculcating values of national integration and secularism. A teacher’s work in relief operations during natural calamities would also be considered. The appraisal report is also meant to contain an account of a teacher’s involvement in campus life and students’ welfare schemes. Being at the receiving end, teachers are expected to discharge their duties effectively as assimilators, generators and facilitators of knowledge. Their attendance in seminars is essential for promotion too. This allows them to get updated with current developments in the subject and improve interaction between the faculties. Also, their participation in professional training programmes like Refresher courses and Orientation courses is a must for career advancement. They are also provided with incentives for research paper publications.

Evaluation of teachers by students has prompted the teachers to be accountable for their duties. Teachers are also given enough participation in administrative affairs of the institutions. So, it is now taken for granted that they cannot take the freedom and flexibility of their job for a ride. So vast is the responsibility of teachers and yet, unfortunately, so little is the attention paid to implement it. As far as the new proposal of 6-dayweek is concerned, infrastructurefacilities are yet to be spelt out including upgrading of the existing departments and classroom facilities.

One may not overlook the problem of increasing the working days in view of the increasing numbers of examinations due to the mounting pressure caused by the CBCS. Classrooms are also often used for different PSC or UPSC examinations, local conventions and electioneering purposes. The academic schedule is also disturbed during the admission season, union elections, strikes, bundhs and demonstrations. Some years ago, the Mitra Commission observed in West Bengal: “Most colleges are known to be lacking in library and laboratory facilities, playground and sufficient number of classrooms.”

Admittedly, wholehearted involvement in the teaching-learning process cannot be had unless teachers are guaranteed access to books, journals, conferment of distinction through proper recognition of their academic excellence and protection from the vagaries of multiple administrative controls. The proposed 6-day-week would push up their teaching hours leaving no time for preparation, research, evaluation, field work, innovation in syllabus designing and extension activities beyond “chalk and talk”.

Teaching is undoubtedly different from other professions in respect to the pursuit of excellence involved. In fact, linking increased pay with greater accountability is a universal practice. Teacher’s presence in the classroom is as important as the quality of instruction. The question is whether the government will be able to enforce regular attendance of teachers and ensure their interaction with students both within and outside the classroom.

It must evolve a strategy for improving the quality of teaching by providing proper incentives. Teachers have also to take their share of responsibility to prove themselves both academically and as researchers to stay in the race. George Bernard Shaw once remarked: “The best of us shall become teachers and rest can go wherever they want to.”

(The writer is former Associate Professor, Department of English, Gurudas College, Kolkata and is presently associated with Rabindra Bharati University)