Teaching is referred to as the profession of the Prophets and therefore, considered very noble and respectable, or so we would like to believe. As the world grows increasingly materialistic and education is turned into a lucrative and profitable business, the individuals associated with it are also treated like disposable commodities, to be hired and fired at the whims of the senior management.
Schools are cropping up everywhere, as more and more people jump on to the education bandwagon and the population rises exponentially. Like window shopping, people school hop nowadays, as enrolling your children in the right school is like owning the right designer handbag or driving the right car. To summarise, schools are now status symbols and being enrolled in the right educational institution, is deemed far more important than receiving a good education.
Teachers, in this country, enjoy no legal rights and contracts awarded at the time of hiring, are heavily one-sided, all in favour of the employer. Generally, the services of contractual employees can be dispensed with at a month’s notice on either side, or a month’s salary in lieu. There are no employment tribunals or legal entities which teaching professionals can approach in the case of a dispute, leaving the majority completely at the mercy of the senior management of the school.
As a seasoned educationist who has spent more than two decades in this field and has worked for a number of private institutions, most private school owners would benefit from a crash course in professional ethics. Most have no morals and scruples and are blinded by the glitter of fame and money. All of them make extremely tall claims and false promises when they are venturing out, only to let greed and avarice get the better of them, once they become successful. In that respect, they are like blood-sucking politicians, who shake your hand first and your confidence later.
The students are referred to as clients and the sole purpose of teaching is to keep them happy by pandering to their every whim to ensure they do not leave. The parent body, therefore, wields considerable influence, as they pay the salaries, and the school management bends over backwards to please them. Teachers, in this equation, are like disposable commodities, with no legal rights at all. Contracts are all drawn up in favour of the employers and teachers have absolutely no say in the matter at all.
A common practice is to fire teachers on some flimsy pretext or the other, right before the summer vacations to avoid paying them salaries for the summer. Preference is given to fresh graduates rather than experienced professionals, as they can be hired at a fraction of the cost and can also be controlled, as most are in the process of establishing a career and so, are willing to tolerate much more. Economically, it also makes sense to hire two fresh teachers, rather than one experienced one, thus keeping costs down.
In a nutshell, every child is a blank cheque, waiting to be encashed. Teachers are assets as long as they keep their mouths shut and keep toeing the line, but become liabilities, once they begin to assert themselves and demand more rights. As teachers are available a dime a dozen, supply will always exceed demand, so the bargaining power will always rest with the employer. To boot, as there are no employment tribunals or legal entities which teachers can approach in the case of unlawful termination or dismissal, employers enjoy complete autonomy.
As the title of this article implies, teachers are treated like the hired help and if they dare to speak up, their services are quickly dispensed of. A common perception is that teachers get off early, but nobody factors in the endless hours spent in marking copies, making assessments or lesson plans or doing the various administrative tasks that teachers are burdened with in the name of teaching. Language teachers have it especially hard, as checking language copies is a time consuming and painstaking process, requiring oodles of patience, time and energy, which is very rarely acknowledged.
This profession deserves to be awarded the recognition and appreciations it deserves, and the individuals associated with it should enjoy legal rights, which they should be free to exercise in the case of professional or ethical malpractice, or the sanctity and sacredness of this profession will continue to be compromised.
