India Education & Career

Among the noble professions, teaching is as venerated as medicine.  It is a highly skilled job and requires a high degree of commitment and above all immense patience with the student. In the ancient gurukul system of learning, the teacher was considered equal in status to ones god and parents. A teacher does the critical and fundamental task of socializing the young in society and grooming the student for an adult life. As the ancient saying goes, ‘no society can rise above its teachers.’ This is the reason why the profession of teaching commands so much respect among all professions in any society.

The teacher imparts knowledge and help to develop overall personality of the student.  But to be a teacher one needs to know the art of teaching. An intellectual profession, teaching requires a philosophical bend of mind and grounding in psychology, in addition to in-depth knowledge of the subject being taught. The grooming of a student, in general or a particular profession is serious business and therefore requires extensive training in both the art of teaching and the subject being taught.

Training of teachers depends on the level for which the training is—ranging from kindergarten level to the masters level. Then there are vocational specializations, from engineering to medicine and everything in between, and another category for vocational as well as technical (industrial) training. Hence depending on the candidate’s aptitude the relevant choice of teacher training course as well as the discipline needs to be decided.
There are different courses for those aspiring to enter this field and like wise the area of specialization can be selected.  There is a wide range available to choose, right from nursery standard to the university level. Teaching offers a wide variety of openings for a career depending on individual aptitude for a particular subject and the level to teach at (e.g. elementary or advanced level).

Teachers are the most vital link in the process of education.  They not only impart knowledge to the students, they also draw out their potential and help them to develop physically, intellectually, morally and spiritually.  The teacher’s role is to keep the child engaged constructively in a variety of activities during school hours.  Activities include games, singing, drawing, various crafts work etc.

Eligibility:

Nursery school:  Minimum qualification is 10+2 for the Nursery Teacher Training (N.T.T.) course which must be from a recognized institute.
Middle school: Teacher Training Certificate (TTC), or its equivalent minimum qualification of 10+2.
High school: Bachelor of education (B.Ed.) graduation with minimum 50% marks.
Colleges and Universities: apart from a Master of Education (M.Ed), college lecturers  also have to take National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC). After doing an M.Ed there is also available courses like M.Sc.Ed, M.Tech.Ed, B.P.Ed (Bachelor of physical education), M.P.Ed.(Master of Physical Education), etc.

Some other teacher training courses are as follows:

C.P.Ed: Certificate course in Physical Education.
D.P.Ed: Diploma in Physical Education.
B.El.Ed: Bachelor of Elementary Education.
B.T.C:     Basic Teaching Certificate.
S.T.C:    Senior Teaching Certificate.
J.T.T.C: Junior Teacher Training Certificate.
L.T: Licentiate in Teaching.
P.T.T: Primary Teacher Training.
P.T.C:    Primary Teacher Certificate.
D.Ed:  Diploma in Education.
D.P.P.T.E: Diploma in Pre Primary Teacher Training Education.

These teacher training courses are available with various universities.All teacher training Institutes are recognized by The National Council for Teacher Education (N.C.T.E.).

Personal attribute:

The profession of teaching requires immense patience, empathy, an intellectual bend of mind, in-depth knowledge of the subject being taught, a thorough grounding in psychology and a moral lifestyle to lead the student by example. Teaching has a seminal influence in developing the students’ mind because it molds the students character disposes of his ignorance.  A teacher requires a wide variety of skills and a great deal of commitment.  They should not only be good academics but also should be able to communicate their knowledge clearly.  All in all, this profession requires immense commitment, dedication and intelligence.

Career prospects: 

Job prospects for qualified teachers have always been good.  There is currently in India a massive shortage of schools and colleges (especially in rural areas at the school and college level). Hence every year there are new schools and colleges mushrooming, which make for heavy demand for trained teachers.  Teachers can find employment in play schools, nursery schools, primary/elementary school, secondary schools, colleges, universities, educational research institutes, and in special schools.  There is also plenty of demand for private tutorials and personal tutors. Also, teaching can be a second career for those people who have retired from professional services.

Remuneration:

Teachers are paid according to their qualification, experience and the level they are teaching at, such as school college or university.  While teachers at the school level begin from Rs. 4,500/- onwards, junior school teachers start at Rs. 5, 500/.
College lecturers are paid from Rs.6, 500/- upwards while readers get  Rs.8,000/- onward and professors start from Rs.12,400/-.