Classrooms stall without teachers; invest in them

This article is authored by Vineet Nayar, founder, Sampark Foundation and former CEO, HCL Technologies.

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.” John Dewey’s warning, uttered in another age, acquires an uncanny urgency in India today. For all our talk of digital devices, new syllabi, and the promise of Artificial Intelligence, the truth remains stubbornly simple: it is the teacher who holds the fulcrum of learning in her hands. And yet, the very figure upon whom our collective future rests is the one we have chosen to neglect the most.

Teacher

Consider the expanse of our education system: 25 crore children, 15 lakh schools, and nearly a crore teachers. Government schools alone cradle the hopes of two out of three rural children. These numbers reveal both the scale and the responsibility borne by teachers.

For decades, single-teacher schools were not uncommon, one weary figure presiding over multiple grades, improvising lessons with little more than chalk and good intentions. Even today, teacher competency remains uneven, not because our teachers lack spirit, but because they are seldom given the nourishment of sustained professional development.

The traditional model of capacity-building with long, sporadic workshops is too paltry, too ponderous, to match the scale of the need. By the time we reach every teacher this way, another generation of children would already have passed through our schools. We cannot afford such delay.

So, what does investing in teachers really mean? It begins with recognising that teachers, by and large, know what to teach. What is starved is investment in how to teach. That requires three deliberate moves.

First, equip teachers with practical, classroom-tested pedagogy. Lesson plans should not be abstract prescriptions written in distant offices, but living guides that respond to real classrooms — diverse learners, large class sizes, and uneven learning levels. Micro-training modules, delivered in the flow of teaching, work far better than marathon workshops. Imagine a mathematics teacher accessing a five-minute video before class on how to introduce fractions with local objects, and then returning after the lesson to log challenges and receive instant feedback. That is pedagogy made alive.

Second, use technology not as a surrogate, but as an amplifier. Too many interventions imagine a child alone before a glowing tablet, left to self-teach through apps and portals. Yet research and experience confirm that young children cannot learn meaningfully in solitude. They require the guiding presence of a teacher. The more promising vision is technology that eases the teacher’s load: pre-designed digital lesson plans, visual aids, and adaptive tools that allow her to focus on the higher functions of questioning, explaining, and awakening curiosity. Technology, in this sense, is not a rival but a handmaiden.

Third, build continuous feedback and refresher systems. In most professions, performance reviews, mentorship, and refresher training are routine. Teaching, curiously, remains static. A doctor does not rely solely on what she learned 20 years ago; neither should a teacher. What is needed are feedback loops where teachers are observed, supported, and re-trained in a spirit of growth, not surveillance. Peer networks, mentoring circles, and recognition for innovation in classrooms can seed a culture of lifelong professional learning.

But even the most luminous technology and training will falter if we do not dignify the profession itself. Teaching must be made aspirational, selective, and richly supported. The brightest young graduates should vie to enter classrooms, not as a fallback but as a calling. Unless we build real career pathways, offer recognition, and grant teachers the esteem they deserve, our best minds will continue to remain elsewhere.

In India, while initiatives such as NIPUN Bharat, Samagra Shiksha, and the PM Shri schools point towards a welcome seriousness toward early years and foundational literacy, they will achieve little unless teachers are furnished with the means to carry their intent into classrooms.

This is not a matter of pedagogy alone. It is about what sort of nation we wish to become. India stands today at the cusp of a demographic singularity with one of the largest working-age populations in history. The next three decades will decide whether we rise on the strength of innovators and problem-solvers, or stumble with a generation of exam-crackers unequipped for a knowledge economy.

Investing in teachers is not a policy nicety. It is an act of national foresight, and perhaps the most consequential investment India can make.

This article is authored by Vineet Nayar, founder, Sampark Foundation and former CEO, HCL Technologies.