Teaching in government school: Challenges and benefits

Every profession has its own sets of challenges and benefits, and understanding both sides can help individuals make an informed decision about the career they choose. And when it comes to the teaching profession, there are both pros and cons to it. This article is an attempt to highlight some of them and they are wholly based on my experience as a government teacher at a primary school in Nagaland.

Benefits of teaching:

1.  Less working hours: We spend less time on our job than our office-going counterparts. Of course we have extra work to do at home like planning, grading etc. but the trick to it is learning how to balance work. We have a specific time everyday as to when a school starts and finishes which provides a consistent schedule that may be helpful for family and leisure.

2.  Long breaks: One of the most celebrated perks of being a teacher is having long breaks – summer breaks, winter breaks, etc. This much needed break offers opportunities to rejuvenate ourselves, travel and pursue personal interest.

3. Opportunities to be creative: Teachers are often required to think outside the box to teach their students. While implementing new pedagogies we become knowledgeable and creative. Classroom becomes our canvas to experiment our ideas and at the same time we are able to encourage the students to be creative as well.

4. Make impacts: The most rewarding part of being a teacher is observing the tangible difference that we make in the lives of young people by inspiring and mentoring them. Teachers become the biggest trend setter and the so called ‘influencer’ in a student’s life.

5. Subject experts and lifelong learners: As we teach a subject for two to three years or more, it gives us opportunities to deepen the expertise in our subjects. Catching up with new teaching methods and new pedagogies enhances our professional skills. We also learn many things from the students as well. So in this process of lifelong learning one eventually achieves personal achievements and satisfactions.

Disadvantages and challenges of teaching in a government school:

1. Limited parental support and classroom discipline: Classroom discipline in government schools is particularly challenging due to various factors. Firstly, many students lack parental support, as their parents are either illiterate or preoccupied with earning livelihood/daily wage earners. Consequently, basic necessities such as cleanliness and proper school attire are often neglected, forcing teachers to address these needs. Due to the lack of home education, students in government schools often exhibit behaviour that poses challenges for educators. This dynamic makes it significantly harder for teachers to maintain order and focus on delivering effective education.

2.  Random rationalization and redeployment: I believe the government aims at equity in teaching staff provisions by following the policy of rationalization and redeployment. But in many instances redeployment creates mismatch between teacher and student numbers. That is because they don’t carefully assess overstaffed and understaffed situations in various schools. And at the end of the day the ones mostly affected are the teachers.

3.  Multitasking: Besides our day-to-day duties, we are required to perform other additional tasks. With the emergence of the New Education Policy, enumerable governmental programmes, schemes, pedagogies etc. come up every now and then. And in all primary schools, teachers have to perform duties of a chowkidar, peon, gatekeeper etc. since non-teaching staff are not requisitioned in primary schools. With various tasks and responsibilities to perform, it can feel difficult and overwhelming at times.

4. Delay in salary: Teaching is not a get-rich-quick profession and once we are engaged in it, we become fully invested and for most of us it becomes our only source of livelihood. So with the dedication and efforts that we put into our works we expect to be paid on time every month but late payment of salaries is very common. Sometimes salaries are delayed for months that government teachers are compelled to resort to measures like strike or ‘no-pay-no-work' to demand what is rightfully ours. This situation leads to low morale and lack of commitment in our work.

5. The punching bags: Government teachers are often easy targets of parents, school managing committees, government and the general public. Also the failure of the government is that they are unable to provide potential solutions to the problems of the teachers.

Though teaching is not a piece of cake it is anything worth doing. It is rewarding knowing that the impact we make in students' lives will never diminish and the joy that comes along knowing we played an integral role in every achievement of our students is indispensable.

Hanjile Mesen

Primary Teacher,

Government Primary School,

Tenyiphe 1, A Khel.