Should teachers write the exam with students?

Teacher's day is celebrated for the recognition of our beloved teachers for their exceptional contribution to the society as they shape our life from childhood days. They teach us, inspire us, scold us and help us so that we excel in our career. They bring out our fullest potential and believe in us.

Teaching is a very esteemed profession as they create the future of the country. Students are able to achieve a high position in life and turn out to become doctors, engineers, I.A.S, etc. It's because of the excellent education. It is accurately quoted "Teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions."

Some students enlighten the country's name in the world. One such example is of Satya Nadella, who is an American Indian engineer and the current CEO of Microsoft. Nadella's educational background undoubtedly played a prominent role in forming his technical and leadership expertise. He received a degree in Electrical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology located in India. Another legendary example is of Indra Nooyi, an Indian American business executive who served as Chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo for 12 years. Nooyi completed her Post Graduate Programme at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. She has been included in the list of "World's 100 Most Powerful Women" on a consistent basis.

In India, teachers are highly respected. There are many Sanskrit quotes written on teachers defining their value and greatness. There is a quote saying "Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheswaraha, Guru Shakshat Parabrahma Tatmaishree Guruwe Namaha." It means the teacher is respected and preached like God in Hindu culture. Another famous verse from renowned poet, Saint Kabir Das is "Guru Govind dau kahde kake lagu pai, balihari Guru aap ne Govind diyo batai" meaning that if God and my teacher both were standing together, who should be respected first, Kabir Das says that we should bow in front of our teacher as he was the one who showed us the path which leads to God.

Everyone looks up to teachers. It is, therefore, a great responsibility on their part and they should do fairness to this noble position. However, teaching is just like any other profession. On the one hand, some teachers are extremely hard working. On the other hand, some teachers are not performing their work flawlessly, because of which the whole community name is affected. Just a handful of inadequate teachers can harm the honorable profession.

Most institutions require teachers to have a proper degree and certification within a specific subject area. With this requirement, we assume that all teachers would be skilled enough to teach the subject area they were appointed to teach. Unfortunately, some teachers do not know the content knowledge well enough to explain it. They don't prepare the lessons and lose creditability among their students. Some teachers lack motivation. They invest the smallest amount of time in grading the papers. They don't grade the paper correctly creating dissatisfaction about grades on paper, project, exam, or for the course itself among students making them less interested in studies.

Teachers should continuously improve in subject area knowledge on a daily basis. They must commit to advancement. If a teacher lacks this commitment, they may not be suited for the profession. Margaret Elizabeth Sangster rightly quoted "No one should teach who is not in love with teaching."

For solving the issue and not losing respect for this profession, we can take various initiatives:

Firstly, Teachers should give exams with the students. It will make teachers revise lessons properly and update their knowledge on a regular basis. It will motivate the teachers to review the course of the subject area properly leading to better quality education. It will impact teachers who have just mugged up lectures. They would not score well in the exam leading to filtering only good teachers.

Secondly, exams should always be checked by another examiner and not the teachers themselves. Sometimes teachers tend to like some students for various reasons and give marks to them graciously while to some they deduct points unnecessarily. For resolving this issue, ID's should be given to teacher and students while writing the exam. Once they write the exam, papers should be submitted to another examiner who has no information about the teacher's and student's name. If the examiner knows that one of the paper is written by the teacher himself, he would be more focused on grading papers accurately.

Teachers giving exam with students and then getting paper checked by another examiner will support in creating a better Indian education system. This way students will be more motivated and would strive to score more than teachers. On the other side, teachers would be honing their crafts further to score the highest marks leading to a more motivated atmosphere of learning.

A student is a future of tomorrow who deserves the best education, and only a good teacher can provide superior quality education. William Arthur Ward correctly quoted about great teaching "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires". Education is an inspiration; the teacher's job is not the mere act of imparting bookish knowledge to students, but it is an art of widening their knowledge.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.