Duty of a teacher is to produce a supercede student
"A new dimension for Teaching Professionals"
After your A/L' s you may be aspiring to be a teacher in order to fulfill your dream and translate your vision to reality. Congratulations! you have made a wise decision in regard to your future career. The reasons to choose teaching Profession could be due to the facts that you would have inspired by your teacher, or you want to follow your Parents footsteps or their plans, or you are self motivated and inspired to teach the students to make them knowledgeable and worthy citizens of our Motherland and etc.
Teaching is the noblest profession on earth.It involves the person to be a Pedagogue, Effective Educator, Coach, Guide, Motivator and inspiring person, Sculptor, Moderator, Facilitator, leader, Guardian and teacher par excellence. An exemplary teacher would mould and craft the young students to become future leaders by Inculcating knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to them.
Unfortunately, at present in most cases the role of a teacher is limited to inculcating Knowledge only.
They teach according to the syllabus & time - table and assume that they have done their job.
They should change with the change.
The ultimate objective of the Teaching Profession has to "Produce multi talented students to supercede them.
Let us now look at the hidden factors which is responsible to create stress among students. 1.Personal Life
2.Work Life. (Studies) 2.Family Life
3.Social Life
4.Religious & Spiritual Life.
Personal life comprises of Personality, Leadership, Attitude, Self Discipline, Behaviour, Punctuality, regular attendance, Compassion, Honesty, Hardworking,Self Motivation,Time management , Communication Skills & Character.
We hear from the younger generation that they do not have adequate time to do things.
Teachers should guide them to find time.
Generally, time is divided into 3 components.
Time Investment ( ex: Studying & working productively).
Time Spent (ex: Travelling) Time Wastage (ex: gossiping & idling)
Teachers should illustrate on the time invested wisely,Make use of the time spent & avoid time Wastage. This will make the students to find time to engage in studies.
Imparting Knowledge is only a part of the service rendered by teachers.
Other three areas of interests should be developing Skills, Inculcating Values & Attitude & Make these as Habit formation.
The teachers are responsible for moulding the Characters of their students.
They should also inspect the other values mentioned under Personal life such as Discipline. These are need of the hour to us to become a harmonising Country.
Second area under discussion is Work life. i.e : Studies
Teachers should make the students to possess the following values while studying & provide direction.
-Dedication, Determination, Di scipline & meeting deadlines.
They should reiterate the values of Hard work & preach them that there is no substitute for Hard work.
These values if properly inculcated will definitely make the students to live a stress free life at School & Home.
The third area I would like to emphasise on is the Family life.
Teachers should teach their students on how to be Obedient to their Parents & Elders.How to behave in the family with their siblings.The need to uphold the family values.
If they are brought up in this manner it will improve their Quality of Living besides our Country will be better place to Live.
The fourth area in my focus is Social Life.
The teachers should help to find good friends at school.They should also teach the values of True friendship.
The Teachers should foster Team work among students.
They should encourage the students to join & serve the volutary Service Associations & clubs, such as Scouting,& Literary Associations
By learning the Values from those Associations the students will be service oriented / Minded even when they become adults.
We need them to serve our Motherland in the future.
The Teachers should preach them on how to behave in the neighbourhood & society.
They should educate their students on the dangers of Smoking, Alcoholism& drug addiction.
So that when they grow up in the Society they will have only good habits.
These lessons are vital as we are witnessing a disgraceful youth society at present.
The fifth area of my interest is the Religious / Spiritual life.
The relationship with our Almighty God through prayers should be taught to students. To do this you need not to be the Religious Teacher.
The power of prayers should be preached to the students effectively.
When praying students should not focus on material gain as this is the number one stress builder.
Rather, they should pray for Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace,Harmony & Tranquillity.
Further, the teachers should teach their students that "Prayers can move mountains".
Having read the above contents of my article, I am sure that you would have gathered a fair idea on the steps of stress reduction among students.
The above suggestions & recommendations will not only lead to stress free life but as well to to live a holistic & Prosperous life.
Need of the hour is holistic approach to your noble Profession.
By fulfilling the duties outlined in the article,
I am confident that you could produce students superceding you and make them as future Leaders.
Hence, I call upon the teachers to play a pivotal role in the lives of our future generations. Their future is in your hands!
We have been brought up by Teachers of high Calibre and we are grateful to our Teachers & Alma-Mater for moulding us to reach the current status.
(The writer was the Former Chairman & Editor-in- Chief of Old boys' Union, St.Joseph's College,Colombo10 & Senior Advisor, Senior Lecturer and Teacher Trainer of Sri P on na mb ala wan es war ar Hindu Religious School for over a decade and Life Transformational and Life Management Coach and Personality Development Consultant).