School wasn’t the most enjoyable experience for me, I didn’t walk away from it feeling like I’ll miss it either. The only things that made it worth attending were a few good friends & the teachers that helped me build a perspective outside of school itself. The teachers who offered personal insight, while teaching their subjects left a lasting impression on me.
Which is why I feel particularly perplexed about online education platform Unacademy cutting ties with a teacher for sharing personal insight during a class.
Recently, news of Unacademy sacking a teacher identified as Karan Sangwan hit the internet. The reason? He asked his students to vote for literate candidates.
The ed-tech platform has said that they aim to provide their students with an unbiased learning experience, and Sangwan had breached that code of conduct, therefore they had to take steps to correct the action taken by him.
But what we’re wondering is why wanting an educated leader is such a terrible thing? Or why voicing that opinion is such a bad thing either?
If the point is that a skilled and intelligent politician can lead people just as well as an educated one, then it’s worth noting that most jobs require you to have an education; Why are we not applying the same to what is needed to be a political candidate?
Isn’t their job one of the most essential in a country? Aren’t they responsible for a country’s future at large?
Educators are supposed to teach you more than what the syllabus has to offer. A teacher’s willingness to go the extra mile to educate their students, outside of the curriculum, is how we nurture children and encourage them to grow into responsible citizens and wholesome adults.
In fact, if we didn’t have such teachers, our society would descend, in terms of how we should strive to function as a community.
Even if we were to look back at our history, legendary Dr. Radhakrishnan was dedicated to academics for a large part of his life, he was an advocate for how education uplifts society. He played a large role our defence against colonialism and western criticism. Thinkers and educators are an integral part of the society; They help us progress and open our minds to new ideas and ways of living.
Educators like these help us explore possibilities, they help us explore If we can live in a better world or create one. Is that so bad?