The government has to come up with multiple avenues for one to become a teacher to allow committed persons to enter the field of education, Founder-Director of Teachers Foundation Maya Menon said on Saturday.
“In the West, a person can become a teacher through multiple alternatives. Unfortunately, in India, one can become a teacher by gaining DEd or BEd degrees. The government has to do something about this,” Menon said.
She was responding to a question by a school founder that many non-BEd teachers were better qualified to teach than BEd teachers.
Menon was a panellist at a discussion on ‘Leaders in Education’, a part of the National Forum for School Leaders, organised by Indian Institute of Management. Bangalore, and Samhita Academy.
Bindu Hari, Director of The National Public School, said many young professionals tired of their in-front-of-the-computer jobs want to return to schools as teachers.
“Even young mothers of late want to become teachers. We must be ready to take them,” she said.
Menon also rejected the notion that the ancient Gurukul system of pedagogy is an ideal approach.
“We love to romanticise the Gurukul system, but it is rubbish.
The Guru-Shishya tradition is discriminatory as it catered only to the high class. Besides, we have not let go of the British public education system that even they have discontinued. We need to change,” she said.