Society needs to appreciate teachers

This past week, the education sector has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The perennial burning of buildings in schools is back. Several schools have been closed in response to these developments.

While government officials have issued stern warnings against the people they think are responsible for the acts, no long-lasting solution has been explored. Being a recurring event, it is important that the government moves beyond warnings and fining parents by the concerned schools for the damage occasioned by such fires.

A parent of a school unhappy with the fines imposed on them raised the concern that teachers spend more time with their children and if fires occur, the spotlight should also turn on them. This comment raised the more fundamental issues about the role of teachers in the character formation of children.

The parent unwittingly demonstrated that teachers are sometimes more critical in shaping children than their parents. Many parents will tell you that if you have a debate with your child on some issue, and your position is at variance with that held by their teacher, the child will prioritise what the teacher advised them.

This discussion on the importance of teachers arose to me in the context of a birthday celebration of a former lecturer at the University of Nairobi, the late Prof Okoth Okombo. Okoth never taught me. In fact, we were never in the same department.

However, we undertook leadership training for young people, political parties and the Members of Parliament. This past week his son and friends organised a public lecture at the University of Nairobi to celebrate his 71st birthday posthumously.

It was pleasantly surprising that Google celebrated him with a doodle. If you met Prof Okombo you easily recognised his prowess in language. He was a good communicator and a dedicated and excellent teacher. He gave teaching an uplift.

Celebrating his contribution provided me with context for the contributions that teachers make in society. Prof Okombo took his teaching work extremely seriously. Through his work he influenced a whole a sizeable portion of the Kenyan society.

His contribution is not isolated. It represents the Kenyan teacher, labouring daily, changing lives but invariably receiving very little applause for their work. In most instances, they are ignored or blamed as happened with the parent who raised the issue on the need for them to be interrogated about the fires in schools. Only rarely do they receive the recognition they deserve, as Prof Okoth did last week. Even in his case, though, it came long after he was dead.

This approach needs to change. Teachers are the backbone of any society. How we treat them determines the status of our development, the quality of our engagement and eventually the calibre of citizens we have. It is important that we reorient our view of the teaching profession.

Ages ago, the teaching profession used to be the most noble calling. Many young people aspired to be teachers. This has changed. The reason is not because teachers have stopped doing a good job.

On the contrary, they continue to labour daily to sharpen their students to be better citizens.

Nothing excites a teacher more than the success of their students. A few days ago, I was having a phone conversation with the class teacher of my daughter. Her excitement on the progress the class was making as they prepare for their exams was palpable. You would think she was the parent for the kids.

It is important that we review how we appreciate teachers. This involves the support that the education sector gets, the working conditions they operate in, the payments we give them and the role we assign them in society.

The government regularly awards national honours and award during national celebrations. It is high time that the teaching profession got a sizeable portion of these awards.