Children, they say, are like soft clay.

And come to think of it, the idiom could not be more correct. I am sure we all have special memories from our childhood. That particular “ma’am” in your primary school who wore a comforting perfume and saw you address her ma or mumma, accidentally. Or how your Maths teacher told you before the boards that hard work makes everything possible. And when you went for your higher studies, the lecturer noticed that spark in you and encouraged you.

Today when you look back at your life, aren’t teachers the most important leading light, other than parents and friends?

Isn’t it then almost ironic that teachers in our country are never given the due they deserve? Their salaries are abysmal, their working conditions, horrid (I am talking particularly about government schools in far-flung areas, not just the city schools) and given the changing society, their value, sidelined. To make matters worse, the conditions of most government schools is deplorable, making it almost impossible for children to want or be able to come to school.

According to a recent survey by The Times of India (TOI) a maximum number of primary schools have the teacher-student ratio of 50:1. The NDTV has, in a survey, disclosed that most government schools in India lack basic amenities of toilets and drinking water. On the implementation of Right to Education (RTE), they surveyed 780 government schools in 13 states of India. The results were shameful. Sixty-three percent of them had no playgrounds. More than a third of the schools either had unserviceable toilets or they were in extremely poor condition. In case a student wants to use the toilet, he goes back home.

I also think the recent statement by Allahabad High Court should soon become a rule. “All government servants, elected representatives, members of judiciary and any other persons who get any benefit or salary from the state exchequer or public fund should send their children to primary schools run by the state education board”, said the Allahabad High Court.

This, combined with good teacher salaries and strict monitoring, can go a long way in changing the level of education in our country. We have seen what a teacher, who later became one of our most popular presidents, did for our country. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has left an impressionable mark on many young minds he interacted with. Our second President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was a teacher, too, and it is his birthday on September 5 that is dedicated as Teacher’s Day.

I know every teacher is not Dr Radhakrishnan or Dr Kalam, but I do know that there is greatness in everyone; it just needs to be identified, nurtured and encouraged. Let us make the environment for education more conducive. Let us tell our children to bring alive the guru-shishya tradition.

Let each of us have an internal churning on the true value of education. And that is when we will see India stronger than it ever was.