Teachers are neither on strike nor a go-slow. Some social commentators bandying around a suggestion that teachers have taken the strike to the classroom, an idea that the Minister of Education (and Skills Development) seems to be sold on. But the truth is that teachers are working, and very hard under difficult circumstances, for that matter. Even so, we want to emphasise that the morale of teachers is at an all-time low because of unresolved welfare issues. When we state this reality, we are deliberately misconstrued to be saying that teachers are not applying themselves fully to their duties. Low morale is not synonymous with being on strike. Morale is the enthusiasm with which people work when they find fulfilment in their work. It is not something that can be forced upon people because it comes naturally when conditions at the workplace are good and dissipates when conditions are deplorable. We are aware that there may be isolated cases of teachers who do not do their work diligently, but to paint the whole teaching profession with the same brush is unfair and unacceptable. We have said it before and we repeated it here that there are ways of dealing with such cases.
Tobokani NICHOLAS RARI
Secretary General of BOSETU
