Feature

The people of this sub-continent had a tendency to give different types of gifts, like banana, bottle-gourd, pumpkin, domestic chicken, as a symbol of respect. Even one can find this tradition is still in practice in some villages. It reveals the fact that the teachers had a respected position in the society. The teachers were busy with acquiring and distributing knowledge without having any concern for the financial condition of his family, which usually was taken care of by the societal people in the form of gift. It indicates the seriousness of the teachers to their profession which they were able to do without being preoccupied by how the family would be run, revealing the social responsibility of the people towards the teachers.

I do not consider teaching as a profession, rather a semi profession, which requires some mission and vision to move the students positively, thus contributing to develop efficient and committed citizenry. Proper dispensation of their profession requires that they should be provided with sufficient remuneration and other logistics. There are some professional groups in the society, like teachers and judges, who require different salary structure and other necessary facilities to discharge their functions smoothly, otherwise if they are always preoccupied with how they will meet up their family expenses, they cannot give proper service to the community. In Bangladesh the young teachers of both public and private universities are encountering many challenges.

In public universities when anyone joins as Lecturer, the first position in the hierarchy of university teaching, he/she starts to enjoy a revered status without getting sufficient remuneration and logistic support to keep the standard of the gained status. In comparison with the civil servant and military officer of the same rank, he/she gets scanty facilities. If a young teacher does not get any part time job of any private university, or have any scope of consultancy, it will be very difficult for him to survive.

Public universities do not have any training programme for the freshers to enhance their teaching and research ability, in absence of which the standard of professional skill remains in a deplorable stage, unless anyone develops his/her skill by individual endeavour. There is sufficient and good arrangement of training for civil servants, judges, college teachers, military officers, but no arrangement for university teachers. Public universities do not have sufficient fund to provide young teachers with scholarships to promote their higher education, without which the teaching and research capability cannot be elevated to international standard. If the incumbents are sincere to improve the standard of higher education, they must provide sufficient fund to equip the young teachers to cope with the changing needs of the time.

A good private university does not entertain any body without foreign degree in the fresher's position. After getting a job there, a young teacher has to stay in the university from 8/9 am to 5/6 pm, which is applicable to a traditional job holder, not to a teacher of university. The tendency of private universities to suck the young teachers is very harmful for them, as it creates obstacle for conducting research in their respective fields. Even sometimes the private university authorities are not so liberal to grant study leave to the young teachers who want to pursue their higher education.

Hard reality of the public and private universities has discouraged many meritorious students not to go to teaching profession. Given the scanty salary and facilities, many potential students opt for another job, leaving teaching for less qualified students. Though there are some brilliant students who take teaching because they are committed to this profession. Knowing all the hard realities they are teacher as they cannot think of any profession for them other than teaching. Readily I can mention two names, Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat, Senior Lecturer of the English Department of East West University, and Dr. Abdullah Al Faruque of the Law Department of Chittagong University.

After completing her study from Dhaka University, Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat did her Masters from Nottingham University of UK. She is so committed to teaching profession that she cannot think of her other than a teacher. After disposing of her daily responsibility she always busy with searching the Internet to pursue Ph.D. programme.

In her thinking, gesture and posture, she is the perfect symbol of a teacher, which many of the young teacher lack, who became teacher not by choice, but by chance.

Coming from a remote village of Tangail, Dr. Abdullah Al Faruque completed his Honours and Masters from Law Department of Dhaka University. Then he completed his Ph.D. on natural resources law from Dundee University of UK. He is very much committed to teaching and research. Although he has good offer from outside, but he always feels very comfortable with the teaching.

Unfortunately, qualified young teachers like Dr. Abdullah Al Faruque and Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat are not many in number. Many meritorious students prefer job of private firm, multinational company or non-governmental organisation because of their lucrative salary package. One may raise the question, if lucrative salary is the only consideration, one should not come to teaching profession, because it is more than a profession. If one does not have highest urge for acquiring and distributing knowledge, s/he should not come to the academic world. We, at the same time, cannot overlook the counter argument, which tells that if the teachers are not provided with sufficient salary and logistics, they will be busy with thinking how they will run the family. It will jeopardize their pursuit of knowledge and also its dissemination among the students. The policy makers, I hope, will consider the challenges encountered by the young teachers. They should be provided with sufficient logistics, training and scholarships. If the young teachers, who have to shoulder the prime responsibility of imparting knowledge in the universities, are not prepared with modern tools and instruments of education and research, how can we expect to elevate the standard of education?

Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon is an Assistant Professor, Department of Law, University of Dhaka.

Teacher's vision and mission: Pick-up from Pickering

Dr Binoy Barman

Since George Pickering, an educational trainer and consultant from UK, suggested at a workshop recently that teachers should have vision and mission of their own, and that they must perform their professional responsibilities accordingly, I was getting reverberations of his words inside my head. He was right. Really, the teachers, at any level they may be placed -- primary, secondary or tertiary, to any organisation they may be affiliated -- government or non-government, should take a vision first, and then make a mission of it. But how may we define vision and mission? Vision and mission are nearly synonymous and sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the two. Generally, vision is any idea or mental image of something, and mission is any work that someone believes to be his/her duty. With a bit extension of the definition, we can say, vision is the dream of future as someone would like to see, and mission is the agenda to materialise that dream. Vision is visualised as ideal idyllic atmosphere while mission is actualised through plans and actions. Both are closely associated and go hand in hand. There might be vision without mission, or mission without vision. But separately those are not probably as strong as might be in combination.

But what specific visions the individual teachers may have in them? Or the collective vision which an institution or a society may have as a whole? Well, at the individual level, one may have the vision of worthy citizens with humane feelings or future generation well-versed in foreign languages as well as mother tongue. At the institutional level, it may be imparting knowledge to learners and producing good graduates with globally competitive edge. At the top echelon of collective consciousness, it may be a society free from illiteracy and ignorance, or a society full of honest and industrious people, or even a nation that is patriotic and dedicated to welfare. After the vision is clear and well-defined, the teachers now, individually or collectively, may set a mission which puts them in motion. It drives them to the lofty ideas and ideals already envisioned, ensuring teachers' service to society. Teachers' vision and mission are not driven by mere money or personal benefit, as some might mistakenly suppose.

People may have mission which, however, may not reach the good end. Despite nice vision, mission may stumble and die away. There are numerous reasons for this. What is most conspicuous is that individual efforts have limitations of all sorts. They are constrained by the existing socio-political settings, having national and international dimensions. If the leadership and bureaucracy of the country are not favourable, the mission, however visionary it may be, cannot make any headway. What is felt at the individual or association level may not be felt through the national pulse. For example, an individual teacher or an association of teachers may feel that particular changes should be brought in the educational policy and national curriculum, but if the government is not convinced with the suggestions no change will take place in the desired direction. This is the obstacle often faced by the teachers, here and elsewhere. Furthermore, a teacher may find his personal vision and mission incompatible, even conflicting, with that of the authority of the institution he/she works for. It leads only to compromise and total suppression, eventually. So teachers may have dream but there is no guarantee that the dream will come true. Dreams are often stuck in the harshness of reality.

But there was the ignition -- I saw it -- the force to surge ahead. Teachers were imbued with the ideal of doing something good for society. They got an urge for vision and mission from the sermons of Pickering, who was conducting a workshop on motivation. In his own witty fashion he was explicating the question: 'How do you motivate yourself and learners?' The point of vision and mission relevantly came up just as a flicker in the middle of his deliberation. He identified vision and mission as two important components of motivation. If anybody has to be strongly motivated, he/she has to ask himself/herself what exactly he/she wants to achieve and why. If he/she gets the answer, vision and mission are kindled from within, giving them power to think and work. After the session, the audience was motivated to their responsibilities -- they felt the potency of impulse, I can tell you. They got ready to be torchbearers for spreading light all around them.

I could not think beforehand that a formal gathering would be rewarding in such a significant way. It was an international conference of teachers, more specifically, English teachers. BELTA (Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association) organised it in Dhaka during September 7-8. People from home and abroad made it a sweet rendezvous for them. It was exciting and stimulating. I heard with amazement the erudite speech of the luminous figures. I learnt a lot from the conference -- from the learned teachers, scholars and researchers who actively participated in workshops, presentations and panel discussion. Above all, I learnt how to motivate myself and others thanks to Pickering. I leant how to get vision and mission and walk down the way of life ablaze with them.

Binoy Barman is Assistant Professor, English, Bangladesh University. Email:binoy_barman@yahoo.com