Teacher’s Day –Significance in Present Scenario
World Teachers' Day is celebrated on October 5 which aims at 'appreciating, assessing and improving the educators of the world.’ The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Education International (EI) patronize the campaign each year to the world, the contributions of teachers and their role in the development of students and society.
However in India, Teachers’ Day is celebrated annually on September 5 to mark the birthday of the country’s former President, a distinguished scholar, philosopher, veteran teacher and educationist, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was born on this day in 1888. Dr Radhakrishnan once said that “The teachers should be the best minds in the country.” He upheld the ethical role of teacher in his various books and articles.
"अज्ञानतिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जनशलाकयाचक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः"
'I bow to the divine teacher, who opens the eyes of one blinded by the disease of ignorance by means of the principle of knowledge.’
Dr Radhakrishnan has narrated the real contributions of the teacher in their supreme ethical form ; 'The teacher guides his pupil to attain the status which he has ,' mama sadharmayam'. The pupil, Arjuna, is the type of the struggling soul who has not yet received the truth. He is fighting with the forces of darkness, falsehood, limitation and mortality. When his whole being is bewildered, when he does not know the valid law of action, he takes refuge in his higher self, typified as Krishna, the world teacher … and appeals for the grace of enlightenment.’ I am thy disciple. Illuminate my consciousness. Remove what is dark in me. Give me what I have lost... a clear rule of action’.
This is the very significance of teachers’ day. To celebrate the day on 5th September , is a symbolic one. In wider sense teachers' day is all the days of month, year, in the life of a human being. It is the teachings, influences, footprints of our teachers, right from our primary education to University education and beyond which shapes our wisdom and values ; and reflects in our day to day works. Swami Vivekananda's famous proclamation - “Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in man ’, reminds us the objective of education and there lies the role of a teacher.
That is why teaching is very different from other professions. It is a profession of sacrifice, a profession of dedication, a profession of shaping the minds and a profession of becoming a role model.
The observance of Teachers' Day is to give due recognition to this holy profession and humans associated with this great service. The duty of the teacher is to unearth the embedded virtues lying dormant in her students which in Swamiji’s word 'manifestation of perfection’. Corruption in public life, exploitation of weak and marginalized people, economic disparities like unequitable distribution of wealth among masses, violence in the name of race, language and religion, destroying ecology and environment are menaces which can be addressed if human beings are educated in true sense. The responsibility and significance of teachers in the lives of their students lies in value and ethical conducts. Teacher’s role in the life of a student is nicely mentioned by all time great world leader, President Lincoln’s letter to his son’s teacher :
“ In the school teach him, it is far honorable to fall than to cheat … Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong… Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon … Teach him to listen to all.. But teach him also to filter all s/he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.”
The entire student and teaching communities and all citizens of this great country should take concrete steps to eradicate menace from educational institutions. There comes the importance of Value Education . The true celebration of teachers' day will come when we the world citizen can come out from all disparities, all exploitations , all internal rifts under the guidance of our educators and teachers. In that very humanistic platform let we dream to recite our beloved poet Rabindranath Tagore’s famous lines from Gitanjali :
'In one salutation to thee, my God,
Let all my senses spread out
and touch this world at thy feet.’
And there will be the true observance of the Teachers' day and our Salutation to the Teachers.
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