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COVID-19: Teachers, Now Is Time For Sincere Sobriety

by AnaedoOnline
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By: Gabriel Chy Alonta

I took a walk to some select primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions the other day. I witnessed serenity and unusual calm in the lifeless and empty surroundings that were devoid of humans or any human activity.

One question kept popping up in my mind as I gazed around the schools – ‘Do teachers truly know that without STUDENTS, there would be no SCHOOLING and that, without SCHOOLING, there would be no TEACHERS and, concomitantly, no JOB for them? This question, obviously, took me to the ugly experiences students are, ever so often, reported to go through in the hands of some teachers across the three tiers of education in Nigeria.

The current atmosphere in our schools and campuses should engender the act of retrospection and introspection among scholars and teachers alike, after this lengthy (almost five-month) unusual academic vacuum in which they had to be home, without their students, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic the world is currently grappling with.

At this juncture, and without any intention to diminish the unequivocal role the teachers play in moulding students under their care, a few posers appear pertinent for the attention of the teachers in Nigeria.

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Why did you choose to be a teacher or go into teaching? How have you impacted your students? Do you know that, without students, there would be no teachers?
Have you forgotten that, on the last day, you will be judged based on the way you influenced or treated your students? How do teachers feel about the rampant cases of inhumane, inconsiderate cases that assail us in the media as if the teachers involved do not have male and female relatives who are equally vulnerable and under the charge of other teachers and who could also be so unconscionably mistreated?

If you look closely, the above questions should naturally elicit responses or send shivers down the spines of teachers some among whom are often found wanting given the wanton manner they carry out their day to day academic activities.

There is no gainsaying that many people accidentally find themselves in teaching, given the inclement economic and social atmosphere of the Nigerian job market.

This has informed the suggestion by experts that such accidental teachers never understood teaching as a vocation that must be done with love, patience and sacrifice for students.
I would have, rather more directly, say that such accidental teachers have just failed to adapt to their new vocation which demands those edifying attributes of total commitment, love, patience and sacrifice.

Let me also remind our teachers that parents entrust their children to them in order to train them in both character and learning, just as relatives of the teachers are also, of practical necessity, entrusted to others of their kind in other educational institutions. If only they realised this, many of them would not continue in the ignoble trait of sacrificing character on the altar of their personal motives, base sensual gratification and vainglory.

It is dispiriting wondering how many of our teachers still pay attention to character formation. It is no wonder that it is said that an educated person is not necessarily one who has gone to school, but one whose behaviour conforms to the norms and expectations of the society.

It’s high time erring teachers took out time to ponder their poor attitude towards their students knowing fully well that, without them, there won’t be teaching. They must be wary that their students, most times, look up to them as models. What are you modelling to your students?

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Teacher-student relationship must be built on trust, love, mutual respect and understanding because teachers are supposed to be mentors and the students, mentees. Relationship is the most important thing on earth and every teacher must make necessary effort to ensure he or she builds a mutually beneficial and, most importantly, morally decent relationship among their students, instead of the master/victim relationship now

pervading in most of our schools and campuses.

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The student’s needs must be the priority in our education and every teacher has a role to play in achieving this. Teachers should remember that, in the end, it is THEM and GOD and the only thing to save them is the number of lives they sincerely nurture while discharging their duties.

Teachers are great, no controversy, but it is only teachers who treat their students aright that this aphorism will perfectly fit. Put slightly differently, teachers providing guidance both in and outside the classroom, should be considered the greatest. Teachers must be avuncular to students at all levels of education.

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