Education is vital to any country, especially to a developing one whose human capital will determine and shape the direction of its future, whether toward prosperity and well-being, or poverty and perdition. So, it is frustrating to discover within this survey, posted on the website of the School Choice Campaign, a flagship project of the Centre for Civil Society to bring about reforms in schools in India, a high rate of attrition among teachers in the developing world, which averages about 19% across the countries studied. The authors of this study, ‘Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries,” examine the many causes for such absences. Topping off the list is the state of working conditions (or the quality of infrastructure), especially in rural areas, that plays a major role in a teacher’s decision whether or not to teach that particular day: “This finding is consistent with the idea that teachers and health workers are extremely unlikely to be fired for absence, but that their decisions about whether to go to work are influenced by the working conditions they face.” To correct these problems, the authors recommend the following: increased local control in terms of giving local institutions the power to hire and fire teachers; improve the existing civil service system; experiment with systems, and offering access to school vouchers wherein parents decide on how to spend public money and can choose among schools within both public and private school systems.
I think, however, that teachers should not view themselves as mere workers (in the ordinary sense of that word). While much-needed infrastructural reforms and pay incentives are necessary to make teachers feel their worth, their work is much more than that. It is a mission. It serves the dual purpose of enlightening minds and preparing them for useful and fruitful citizenship. All this sounds preachy when spoken from up here, within the comfortable confines of First World living. But bear with me, this video says it all. It should tell every teacher, whether here or in a village somewhere in the developing world, about the meaning and importance of teaching.
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