Spectacle, is not teaching
One of the characteristics of today's world is the phenomenon of—viral video. Millions of people watch it to entertain themselves. However, when we misunderstand entertainment as education, it creates a serious problem. In the field of educational research, we are still waiting to have a genre of ‘teacher as an entertainer. There could not have been different words if entertainment and teaching were the same.
The Twitter handle “Teachers of Bihar” recently posted a video of a teacher performing some sort of dance and singing in the classroom. The same teacher has also performed a similar sort of dance earlier and that also went viral. Commenting on the tweet, Philosopher and vice chairperson of NCF 2005, Professor Rohit Dhankar wrote "This is nautanki, not teaching"
Why is it a matter of concern for all of us?
We all need entertainment, aren't we? Everyone has the right to entertain others. I see no problem with this proposition; the problem arises when we project teaching as entertainment.
It not only ridicules teaching, but also validates the notion that teaching isn't a serious profession. Only a few teachers contribute to this idea of teaching being a non-serious profession, the rest suffer the consequences.
The media pays greater attention, not to the act of teaching but the act of entertainment. Having deviated from its primary duty of journalism, the media is belittled and ridiculed as Godi media due to its loss of credibility. Long back, French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu analyzed the nature of media and commented…They do not tell us the news, they sell cultural products. For media houses, entertainment videos from the classroom are a product which takes them to millions of people. Rather than celebrating teachers, they celebrate the entertainment provided by the teacher.
Do I not support a joyful learning environment in the classroom?
Of course, I support it . But I have examples of joyful learning from the classroom of Giju Bhai. I have examples from the school of Totto-Chan, I have examples from Summer Hills. Were these classrooms not joyful?
I have read a couple of ethnographic works on school education but unfortunately, I could not find a single example of Nautanki in the classroom. School ethnography captures the nuances of school life. Here are some examples of ethnographic works on school education.
- Researching School experience- Martyn Hammersley
- Micropolitics of the school- Stephen J. Ball
- Constructing School knowledge- Padma Sarangpani
- Life at school- Meenakshi Thapan
- Ek School manager ki diary- Farah Farooqi
All these books fall into the genre of School Ethnography. In these books, I did not find what sensational media calls 'innovative teaching'.
It's obvious that the media doesn't care about learning and teaching. It has the responsibility to keep us entertained. But we have the responsibility to educate. We cannot let the meaning of teaching get diluted. We have to define and redefine the meaning of teaching and learning. It is about engaging with the students, it is about investing in their dreams and aspirations. It's serious work. It prepares students to raise serious questions. Almost every thinker in education agrees— it's serious work. I quote the 12th-century Islamic Scholar Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi “ He who has not endured the stress of study will not taste the joy of knowledge.”
The act of teaching and learning has to be rescued. Otherwise, the already marginalized profession of teaching may soon be relegated to insignificance. It will be a great loss for society. Except for the media, most people still value serious teaching and learning in real life. No parent wants their children to be taught by entertainers. Teachers are preferred over entertainers. We have many examples to look forward to. Up to 200-300 million people watch video lessons by Dr Vikas Divykirti. I haven’t seen him engaged in what Prof. Dhankar has quoted “Nautanki”. Entertainment cannot be disguised as education. We need to rescue our profession as teachers.
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