"The great teacher is not the man who supplies the most facts, but the one in whose presence we become different people.”
The testimonial to this is the examples from the gurukul system where gurus like rishi Vashishth and rishi Sandipani produced shishyas like Ram, and Krishna respectively. Gurukul was a residential schooling system whose origin dates back to around 5000 BC. It was a place where students were taught various subjects along with knowhow to live a cultured and disciplined life. The relationship between guru and shishya was quite sacred. Gurukul was the home of a teacher or Acharya and was the center of learning where pupils resided till their education was complete. A clear portrait of the Gurukul is depicted in our country's history and myths. The Pandavas and Kaurayas in 'Mahabharata' are depicted as imbibing knowledge in a Gurukul.
It can be argued that Gurukul imparted education which is nowadays called lifeskills education. Taking a cue from that, and in an attempt to transform the education system attuned to current needs and challenges with a focus on the future, the National Education Policy was introduced in 2020. Based on its recommendations National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage 2022, and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 has just been launched. The common thread cutting across all these documents is the importance given to the teacher. All the documents, underscore the importance of teachers in nation-building and accord the highest importance to them. Elaborating on the role of the teacher in education NEP 2020 says, “The teacher must be at the center of the fundamental reforms in the education system.” Envisioning teachers as change makers, it advocates freedom for teachers to implement innovative pedagogies and customize classroom processes according to the needs of students. It should be noted here that teachers are not only responsible for the subject they teach but directly or indirectly they shape the personality of students. Students imbibe various life skills, values, habits, and personality traits from teachers by observing them. Therefore, teachers need to be role models for their students, a value to be imbibed from the Gurukul system. A close look at the Gurukul system provides an overview that the modern-day constitutional values like equity and equality were characteristic features of the Gurukul system, which in the current scenario we are yet to achieve.
However, interestingly, the Finnish Education System appears in more than one way, to be similar to our Gurukul System. It has embraced the self-exploratory self-learning methodology. The system allows the Finnish system to give flexibility to teachers to experiment with new teaching pedagogies and customize them as per student requirements. The role of the teacher transforms into that of a mentor or Guru. It is not surprising that the Finnish System of Education promotes cooperation and not competition. Presently, the Finnish System of Education is considered a role model for other countries.
At the same time, it is heartening to observe that some institutions like the Modern Schools in NCR and Shanti Niketan in West Bengal, still reflect the Gurukul System. In the Modern School, the Modern School Old Students Association is still proactive and follows the tradition of 'Guru Dakishna' by bestowing a shawl, a plaque, and a token of cash award to superannuated teachers on a rotational basis. It is very heartening to observe that ex-students who are now renowned doctors, advocates, architects, etc. offer their services to their teachers on a complimentary basis. In times of needThe list of honour in one form or another is long and similar respects are certainly paid by other schools also because the Guru-Shishya tradition is ingrained in the Indian psyche. The zenith of this tradition is reflected in our country celebrating 'Guru Purnima' and 'Teacher's Day' on an Annual basis. A teacher affects eternity and one can never tell where their influence stops. We should perpetually express our gratitude to them. These values of respect towards one’s teacher or guru can be engrained in the child by the students’ parents and society in general. It is a sad state of affairs that in most of the schools in India, the teachers are not accorded the respect they deserve by the parents and the students.
At this stage, it is pertinent to emphasize that in any Education System, be it the Finnish or International Baccalaureate or CBSE, the prime focus is the teacher-student relationship. In ancient India, the Gurukul System had smaller groups of students under a Guru. The Finnish Education System and IB also have not more than 20 students under a particular teacher. NEP 2020 too, advocates a 30:1 pupilteacher ratio. However, in reality, it surpasses the number varying from state to state and sometimes it amounts to 90:1 or more than that. There are many reasons for this for example scarcity of schools or shortage of teachers in a particular region could be the primary reason, but there is no doubt that education process certainly suffers due to these.
Therefore, we have to endeavour to bring down this ratio considerably if we want good and effective teaching to occur as that in the Gurukul system. Personal attention and practical knowledge are only possible if a teacher is handling a small group of students. If the infrastructure is a problem, the 3 Government of India and State Governments can consider making it mandatory that all schools should have a minimum of two shifts, if not three. Embracing of Hybrid Mode of Education could be another solution. The ideal goal should be to attain the Gurukul model. It is worth pondering that in India, in almost all schools the brick-and-mortar structure is only used for 8 hours a day, and for the remaining 16 hours it is unutilized. Can a developing country like India afford this? In case we increase the number of shifts it could be easier to bring down pupil-teacher ratio resulting in we adopting the Gurukul model and also creating more employment opportunities for teachers.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that a student in one's life has many teachers. The first Guru of a child is his father and mother. As the child enters formal education, the teacher also becomes a Guru and this continues in senior classes and University. Teachers are called many things: educators, mentors, instructors, and sometimes incidentally 2nd mom or dad. No matter what they are called, we can all agree that they truly have a gift for influencing lives inside and outside of their classroom. This is only effectively possible if we replicate the Gurukul model. The main reason behind it is explicitly mentioned by Sidney Hook,
"Everyone who remembers his Education remembers teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system".
