Surojit Chaliha
(chalihas@gmail.com)
Manik, sir, is an ideal and experienced teacher. For over the last three decades, he has spread the knowledge of light to thousands of students, batch after batch. However, for the past few years, a deep sense of sorrow has taken root in his heart. “In the past, when I entered the classroom, the respect sparkling in the students’ eyes would make the day’s tiredness vanish,” Manik, sir, says with a long sigh. “Today, when I enter the classroom, I feel, for the students, I am not a teacher but merely an employee whose services have been purchased by their parents by means of fees paid to the school.”
Manik Sir’s grievance is not just a personal mourning; it is the reflection of a terrifying reality across the educational landscape of Assam. The incident in September 2023 at a coaching centre in Sivasagar, where a student killed the principal, proves that the moral authority of the teacher is now facing a grave threat in our society.
While the erosion of respect is a growing concern, its nature varies significantly between the two sectors, government and private. In government schools, the dynamic is notably different. Since no direct fees are charged and teachers are paid by the government, the teacher is often still perceived as a figure of authority. In these schools, students typically come from two backgrounds – respectful, educated families who retain traditional respect for the Guru, or families from struggling economic backgrounds. In the latter case, parents are often so consumed by the daily struggle for survival that they are unable to involve themselves in the child’s school environment. Consequently, the aggressive parental tracking and tracking of administrative authority seen in the private schools is largely absent here.
The private schools, however, present an aggressive paradox. The rise of private schools is a natural response to the aspirations of modern society due to the growing failures of the public education system. Research by sociologists like James S. Coleman has shown that private schools often have higher attendance rates and superior academic results due to modern infrastructure and facilities. In these schools, parents pay fees, and teachers are paid directly from those fees. Families, even those with inadequate income, view these fees as a critical investment for their child to climb the socio-economic ladder. These dynamics transform education into a commercial transaction. This financial commitment creates a customer-centric mindset where parents view schooling as a purchase. They often seek to dictate administrative terms, undermining the teacher’s authority. This directly impacts the child when parents mock a teacher’s qualifications simply because they are paying to teach; the child internalises that behaviour. As Manik sir puts it, “A student will never show genuine respect in the classroom to a person whom their own father treats as a hired hand.” The erosion of respect extends beyond mere words. From the killing of the principal in Sivasagar to the physical assault on a teacher in Lakhimpur, all are reflections of the same crisis. Even before physical violence occurs, digital humiliation, posting insulting ‘reels’ or ‘memes’ about teachers, is committing a silent murder of a teacher’s dignity.
To escape this crisis, the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) advocates for restoring teachers as ‘Gurus’ and social mentors. It places special emphasis on building an empathetic relationship through Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). Restoring this respect is not possible through government rules alone. It requires a mutual respect charter where school management, teachers and parents reach a shared consensus. We must realize that education is a sacred social responsibility, not a commercial commodity. Whether in a high-fee private school or a government school, the teacher’s dignity must remain non-negotiable.
Manik Sir’s question continues to haunt us: “If today’s children do not learn to respect their teachers, will they know how to respect their elderly parents in the future?” Beyond the transaction of school fees, only empathy can show our future generation the right direction.