Are teachers and parents at loggerheads? Everyone needs help in tough times. Maybe it is time to call upon the alumni to make peace and add value?

Fear. Shame. Those were the primary emotions of parents and students summoned to school. Now teachers, shut out of school, are experiencing the same.

“Why have parents got so aggressive?” asks a teacher. “Why should we pay fees, when the school is shut, and classes are online?” asks a parent.

The digital revolution did not lessen the teacher’s burden; only added the keyboard, the mouse and connectivity issues to the books to be corrected and papers to be set.

When marketers occupy multiple newspaper pages and long airtime minutes to hawk their apps that transform babies into brainiacs, things get tougher for the teachers.

At a time when leaders in giant organizations are rediscovering the value of mentors to help them through difficult times, can we really afford to hang the teacher out to dry?

Everyone needs help in tough times. Teachers as well as parents. Virus or not, digital or not, we have a nation to build. When the adults fight with the little eyes upon them, clouds of confusion and conflict eclipse enlightenment.

Maybe it is time to call upon the alumni to make peace and add value?

—- From the MENTOR’S MUSINGS series by Mohan G Joshi —-