To understand teachers, think of midwives

The fifth day of October was designated as World Teachers’ Day to recognise the important role that teachers worldwide play in the development of their countries. The teaching profession is often referred to as a calling. Something that is much bigger than an ordinary job. However the profession continues to be an enigma to many.This week, Education Times delved into the current state of the teaching profession. Save for a few countries like Singapore, South Korea and Finland teachers all over the world do not seem to be a pleased lot. There is a lot of discontent when you think of teachers.It is either low wages, too much work, no rights to join trade unions, pressure from parents to do miracles with their children etc. After all this, you will be hard pressed to find a person who wants their child to pursue a teaching career. Every child wants to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer or computer scientist. Those who fail to become that are the ones becoming teachers. We are leaving our children in the hands of those who we would not consult if we were in the same class. Do you remember the smart kids that we asked for explanations of tough concepts? Well they went on to become lawyers, businessmen and IT geeks. The ones who used to have problems are the ones we expect to teach our children now. We urgently need to find a way of improving the conditions of teachers and making the profession attractive if we are to achieve sustainable development. A teacher is like a midwife, no one wishes to have his wife or mother handled by a poorly trained midwife.