Reading and Teaching: The Missing Link in Our Schools

Reading and Teaching: The Missing Link in Our Schools

For the last couple of years, I have been working to promote reading among teachers. Through my professional journey, I realized that it is essential for teachers to read, and no amount of training, workshops, seminars, conferences, and so on can replace what reading adds to the professional acumen of a teacher.

I have been trying to convey this idea differently through various examples. Recently, I was watching and listening to an interview, and the example Prof Rameshwar Rai gave to highlight the importance of reading for teachers stuck with me. He says in the interview, “Adhyapakon ke liye adhyayan shwasan prakriya ke jaise hai.” I loosely translate it into English as: reading is like breathing for teachers. Of course, adhyayan is a broader concept than just reading—reading is one way of studying, and there are several others. But it is definitely as important as breathing. Since then, I have been wondering how most of our schools and colleges are filled with teachers who stopped reading or studying long ago. It means our children are being taught by teachers who are not breathing.

And of course, teachers who do not read themselves cannot inspire their learners to read. It results in a vicious circle where the overall effort appears to be a mere course, where the teacher’s responsibility is to cover the syllabus, and the children are engaged in it just to pass exams. If we look at this process closely, we find that it is a completely diseased process—there is no life in it. The classroom interaction, which was supposed to be the most lively space, has turned into a dull and boring one. For most teachers, it’s a task to somehow complete the syllabus, and for most children, it’s a task to somehow prepare for the exam. There is no effort to unfold life, which is happening around them right there in the classroom.

If the problem lies with one or two teachers, it’s an individual problem, but if a large number of teachers are not reading, it’s a systemic problem. The system doesn’t see the necessity of reading for teachers, and thus the working environment is designed in such a way that it doesn’t leave any space for teachers to think and engage in reading. If the system does anything, it organizes training. There is no systemic provision to encourage teachers to read or engage in study.

As a result, what we get is a large number of demotivated teachers and learners. It also leads to a massive dropout rate. Can there be a sinister design behind it? I don’t know. Despite the provision of mass schooling, we see that social structures remain the same. Children with extra resources find other ways to stay motivated and continue to scale the ladder of success. On the other hand, children from disadvantaged sections give up after a few years of struggling in the system. A lot can change if we design a system that inspires teachers to read as much as it monitors teachers to teach. It will bring back life into the classroom.