THE ROLE OF TEACHERS AS NATION BUILDERS
It is an old saying that one cannot have knowledge without a Guru. There were Gurus like Vashishtha, Dronacharya and Chanakya who imparted knowledge to students without discriminating the status of their parents. So far as knowledge was concerned ancient India i.e. Bharat had an egalitarian society. The Guru-shishya tradition was the backbone of the society. The ashrams where the pupil studied were far away from the cities. The Gurus would impart not only secular knowledge but the martial art, spiritual teachings and religion. The ashrams would turn out students on gaining the maturity age or even after that ideal young man to serve the nation in different capacities. Ultimately the Guru would inspire his pupil to be good citizens. And who is a good citizen according to them-
Tyajeddeham Kulasyarthe garmasyarthe kulam tyajet,
Gramam janpadasyarthe atmarthe prithvim tyajet.
i.e.”One should give up oneself for the sake of one’s family, one’s family for the sake of one’s village, one’s village for the sake of one’s country and the whole world for the sake of one’s soul”. The last one is the difficult. Thus the teacher laid emphasis on the third one i.e. giving the greatest importance to the country or the nation.
Thus a teacher would be a nation builder .From a very early stage he would inspire the students to be faithful to the country. That is what Chanakya did and created a Chandragupta who united the whole of Bharat crushing the forces of feudalism of small states. It is what Guru Virjananda did and created a Swami Dayanand who fought against the ills in the Hindu Society. It was the aim of Swami Ram Das too who created a Shivaji who fought against the onslaught of the Mughals.Swami Ram Krishna Paramhans changed Narendra into Swami Vivekananda who unfurled the spiritual flag of Bharat in the World Conference of Religion at Chicago and established Ram Krishna Mission that is serving the whole society in the field of education and health.acharya Shankar created four acharyas who were known as Shankaracharyas.They established the seats of learning in four corners of Bharat.They drew the geographical boundaries of the nation to do away with the invaders who liked themselves with their religious kings in this land to make the country slave. Guru Gobing Singh created the Panji Pyaras who established the Khalsa Panth to give a stern fight to the Muslim invaders in the North. That is how the Guru was nation builders in the past.
The modern teacher is a legacy of the Macaulay’s system of education whose aim was to create babus to serve not their country but the interests of the Britishers.It is rather sad enough that before independence the teachers taught the students not to participate in the fight for freedom .They inspired them to become officers, army personnel and clerks in the British regime. They rather played in the hands of the foreigners to turn the young men from the interests of the nation. Thus the teachers were not nation builders but the builders of the regime of the foreign masters. The tradition continued even after independence. The teachers under the guise of secular education create students who look after not the interest of the nation builders but their own interest. They would create batch after batch of students who give preference not even to their family but only their own self.
A class of teachers has evolved in every nook and corner of the country that has nothing to do with the nation or the society. They would teach hundreds of students in their private classes –sometimes even in school and college hours. What example do they set before the students?
We can still find a large number of teachers who are doing yeoman’s service in the institution’s run by NGOs.The biggest network of this type is of Vidhya Bharati which has more than 5000 Shishu Mandirs of its own and an equal number affiliated to it. They have teachers dedicated to the cause of nation building. They impart physical education, spiritual education and secular education. Bharatmata is to be served in all aspects of life. They are the real nation builders .The government ,after the scale of teachers have been brought at par with the highest paid officers , scientist and executives in the government and the corporate centers should arrange seminars making it obligatory for teachers of all ranges to associate their studies with ideal of nation building in different ways.