Back After a Hiatus

When the cause vanishes, the effect can't remain for too long. So too, once the interest is gone, blogging doesn't last too long. Which probably explains the lack of posts on my blog. Active blogging is difficult to maintain once viewer feedbacks taper away. A post then, just for old times' sake.

The theme of the post is based on the recent news in my college and a chat with a friend of mine.

Lately, my college life has been showcasing teachers with myriad characters and behaviours. Their eccentricities have already been discussed here and here. I'll add to these the relentless torment that my adjacent class-mates are being subjected to. They have had the great fortune of getting a bad teacher-turned-worse. Here is the premise - The teacher forms groups of 3 within the class and asks each group to work on a project under her and to publish a research paper by the end of the semester, failing which she will not pass them. Ridiculous though it may seem, most of the class students are in a state of despair and agony, and have finally decided to complain against the said teacher.

One of the links speaks about the teacher with a disgusting attitude, to say the least. She refuses attendance to some students on the pretext that they were laughing and talking whereas she has no problems when other students she "likes" do likewise. She confiscates mobiles and throws them from one end of the classroom to the other in jest. Why ? - because the guy's phone rang in between. So what if her phone rang in between as well ?

Yet Another teacher - also the Hostel Warden - does not bother to come to class ever, or to the hostel for that matter.

The three above examples are good indicators to why we lag behind in Technical Education and Research and Development. Beyond the much-hyped world of IITs, teachers have little accountability and flaunt it. Likewise, students are all too willing to play ball and waste away their time. What is sad is that despite knowing the rot in the system, some of the teachers like to maintain a holier-than-thou attitude. Sample one teacher who, despite knowing that there are no trained faculty to guide students in the lab, expects every student to have original files, know all topics in depth and show practical competence in the lab- and when the performance of the students falls below standards, he gives everyone poor marks.

The stance that most of the faculty take to the falling apart of the system is akin to the stance parents take about sex education in India - remain hush-hush and expect the child to learn everything on his own.

Any redressal mechanism is rather convoluted and requires superior will, not just individual but collective will, to improve the state of affairs.

All hope is not lost though. There are some genuine gems of teachers who inspire students and show them the right way. When, the students are discussing a question in class, one such teacher says -

" The government pays me well to teach you and clear your doubts completely. When that is the case, it is only fair that you give the teacher at least one chance to solve your doubts. "

May his tribe increase !