Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Teachers have a major role to play in society

- Photo: M. Periasamy

Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai (second right) handing over a degree certificate to a candidate at the graduation day of the Dr. N.G.P. College of Education in the city on Saturday.

COIMBATORE: Education through life, and education throughout life, are the two principles that should guide a teacher in his or her profession. Social relevance of education should not be lost along the way. Teachers should apply text in the right context, V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, said here on Saturday.

Delivering the graduation day address at the Dr. N.G.P. College of Education, he said the job of a teacher should not be merely seen as a process of livelihood but as a process of improving the quality of society or the community. If this emphasis did not form part of the formal education, then education would remain incomplete.

“Education and health are two basic factors that are important for the development of a society. Education refers to basic education and health specifically refers to nutrition - mother's health. When the concentration is more on these factors, the rest will follow. The countries which follow this mantra have become developed countries,” Mr. Pillai said.

Terming the B.Ed. degree as a licence for teaching thousands of children, the Vice-Chancellor said, it is the teacher who sets the ethical and model standards of a society. “It is not easy to forget one or two teachers who have been instrumental in bringing about some significant change in our life. There are some illustrious ones who would have gone beyond the role of a teacher. This special role of a teacher is unique in the Indian context,” he added.

He, however, cautioned the fresh graduates that they should acknowledge that there were a lot of facts that should be learnt and also unlearnt. The ones that should be unlearnt were the difficult ones because they involved giving way to prejudices. Only who discarded prejudices could learn new things, he said.

Thavamani D. Palaniswami, Secretary of the college, Nalla G. Palaniswami, Chairman, Kovai Medical Center Research and Educational Trust, and Jayalakshmi Karuppanasamy, Principal of the college, spoke.

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