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Being a Teacher in Contexts of Change 23
the SDMC s presence shifted power relationships between the school
and the community. We can see in Lalitha s description how new forms
of accountability to, and expectations from, the local community have
destabilised teachers authority and status. She reveals how a weakened
hierarchy between teachers and the community can be met with unease
or resistance by teachers. This tension is of particular significance to
educational reforms that, like the child-centred programmes I studied,
rely on more open relationships between communities and schools.
The educational background of teachers was also relevant to the
perception of their low social status in the wider community. The TCH
initial teacher training (undertaken by most of the teachers in this study)
is not a degree-level course, and could be completed after Std 10 (SSLC).
The expansion of higher education, and the privileging of science and
technology in the school and college curricula, positions the education
level of teachers as relatively low. There are few teacher education
courses in India that are run as part of university-level study. Many
teachers appeared to lack confidence in their professional abilities, even
though the child-centred reforms demanded considerable skills from
them. Saraswathi, for example, expressed this lack of confidence
engendered by such a low educational status. This comment was made
during a discussion about knowledge demands in what she called the
computer age :
In reality, I want to say our own education itself is very low. When our
education is low, what are we able to do? & Nowadays, children s levels are
also high, even in a government school. So we are feeling it is very difficult
to teach them to that level. Some teachers now have done their PUC [Std 12]
and have studied science. They have done their CET [common entrance test].
Some have done their double degrees. So many schools have got such type[s]
of teachers. All those teachers are doing well. But if you look back, that is,
to us, we have just done our SSLC and TCH. So when it is like that, it is not
possible to teach in a higher way. We know that our ability is less. (Personal
communication, Saraswathi)
Saraswathi reflected that the education of teachers might not be
sufficient for them to teach in a higher way and to keep up with the
knowledge demands even in a government school . She related the
educational levels or qualifications of teachers to their teaching ability .
Contemporary Education Dialogue, 8, 1 (2011): 5 31
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24 Arathi Sriprakash
This quotation also reveals the multiple positions of teachers; Saraswathi
drew on the notion of the teacher as a moral guide with a pure and
respected position (see the earlier quotation), yet, here she expressed the
views of teachers like herself that teachers have a low educational and
social status.
Savitha also spoke about changes in her work and how the increased
pressure of the teaching job, the greater direction placed upon her
teaching and the challenges of working with neglected children had not
led to an elevated social status. She described the relatively low social
status of teachers in spite of the challenging task of teaching:
Nowadays, we are getting more pressurised for things which will be useful
for rural children. For teachers, they are telling [us], No, you have to do this.
If you don t do it, it won t work . That type of pressure will be there. And for
teaching, they are giving more and more direction. Previously, children were
not so neglected & so now teachers are getting pressurised. But still, I don t
feel that teachers have got so much respect as doctors or engineers. They
have got more! (laughs, then says with quiet seriousness) We haven t got so
much & (Personal communication, Savitha)
The changing knowledge demands of the computer age (as termed by
Saraswathi) place certain pressures on teachers. Teachers are required to
deliver outputs determined by the state, things which will be useful for
rural children , as described by Savitha. Given the teachers understanding
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