Schooling in the finest of traditions

INDIA HAS been considered the world over as a nation of gurus, wise men and sages. Learning has always been held in high esteem and considerable awe. The present-day tragedy is a cruel travesty of all the former eminence of the profession. Today, teachers are quite easily the worst-paid professionals in the Indian career scenario. It is unfortunate that more and more good teachers are forsaking this field for places that are more lucrative, thus depriving the nation of their services.

All, however, is not lost. There are schools that provide young men and women with a career that is every bit as rewarding as one in the corporate sector. These schools, some of them established over 150 years ago, are institutions which, very soon after their establishment, realised that they would only be as good as the teachers they had on their staff. These were and are the residential public schools in India.

The public school is a misnomer. It is actually a private school, run by a society which provides a high quality, high value education to the youth of the country. To become a teacher in one of these schools, candidates need all the academic qualifications required for any secondary school in the country. The public school teacher is at least a postgraduate with an additional degree in education. However, it is not uncommon for teachers in such schools to be doctorates or to have been involved with postdoctoral research. More than the number of qualifications, such schools look for the other qualities that are necessary for their students. Teachers need to be energetic, alive and full of enthusiasm, both for their subject and the extension of that enthusiasm to the student. Their communication skills should be superlative, as the teachers will have to extend their skill to their wards. The teacher must be good in at least one field sport commonly played in the country. This is because every teacher has to devote some part of the day to the exercise of one sport. Public schools hold inter-school sporting events that are very prestigious and are reported in the national press. In addition, the teacher must be able to guide the students in public speaking and in drama, which again is a very important fact of inter- public school competitions.The work of a public school teacher is broadly divisible in three parts.

The academic, which refers to the course syllabus element of the students' education. Students in such schools are often taught far more than the course demands, an occurrence that will have ordinary day-schools' parents up in arms. The second division caters to the co-curricular activities, which refer to the activities that are designed to make the student a better personality with superlative projection skills and the ability to turn his/her hand to anything. The third area at which the public school teacher needs to excel in is the pastoral care of the students. As the school is residential, they remain away from their parents for five months at a stretch, often up to eight months in the case of students whose parents live in countries that are too far away to merit visit twice a year. In any case, the teacher spends more time with the student than the parents. It is in this area that teachers have to maintain the role of the guru and parent. Teachers are raised to the level of friends, philosophers and guides. They become role models, which means they must be better than the average parents, more friendly than the closest relations, more wise than the wisest day-school teacher, more erudite than the most erudite guru, more parent than the most doting parent. It is because the public school teacher fills their role that the student will, throughout his life, feel that they owe a debt to his mentor. The ideal public school teacher will need also to be a psychologist of no mean order. A sharing, caring attitude is an essential quality.

A typical public school teacher would start as an assistant master/mistress, and would in time, advance to become a housemaster or mistress. During this time, it is possible to become a head of department, head of a sport or an activity. After the house, the next rung on the academic ladder is senior master or mistress and then deans of the two divisions of the school - Academics (studies) or Sports and co-curricular activities. The vice-principal's post is often equated with that of a headmaster with the principal at the helm of affairs. The post is sometimes also called as the rector or director, who are the ex-officio secretary of the school board. The salary ranges from Rs. 96,000 per annum to Rs. 6,00,000 pa. Over and above this, every teacher is provided free, furnished accommodation, free food for self and spouse during the eight months of term- time. There is also a professional development allowance, which is to be used for books and similar educational requirements. A public school teacher also enjoys four months of paid holiday in a year. Depending on the location of the school, there would be 15 days to 3 months in summer and from a month to 13 weeks in winter. In addition, there would be at least one educational trip to a distant location and one to a close destination. Foreign trips with the students happen four or five times in a 25-year career. Children of teachers are educated free of charge. Some schools also support the undergraduate education of teachers' children. All schools also arrange in-service training for all their teachers, either in-house or externally.

The life of a public school teacher is comparable to some of the highest profile careers in industry. It is probably more satisfying to those who are more academically widened and who desire to remain young at heart. The living is relatively stress- free and is amply compensated.