No doubt in past the teachers would enjoy a special status in the society and would receive honor and respect on part of public. In the Vedic period, the teacher (Acharya/Guru) held a highly revered status, considered equal to God, and was a central figure in students' holistic development. Their role encompassed imparting religious and secular knowledge, fostering moral and spiritual growth, and guiding students in a residential Gurukul setting. Teachers were seen as parental figures, responsible for the students' overall personality and character, living austerely and embodying a life of service and sacrifice for the cause of knowledge. In Islam, teachers are highly esteemed for their role in imparting knowledge and fostering spiritual and moral development, acting as guides to success in this life and the next. The Prophet Muhammad emphasized the importance of education, stating he was sent as a teacher, and scholars are considered heirs of the Prophets. Teachers are the conduits of divine knowledge, responsible for guiding students with integrity, serving as exemplars of virtuous character, and playing a vital role in the holistic growth of individuals and society.

During British colonial rule in India, the status of teachers was mixed: while traditional reverence persisted, their professional position was often undermined by poor working conditions, low salaries, and limited professional recognition, as the British prioritized education for administrative purposes rather than broad empowerment. Though the Wood's Despatch (1854) and other initiatives aimed to improve teacher training, the overall quality and accessibility of education remained poor, with few trained teachers and limited investment in the system, especially in rural areas
But in today’s world teachers are the most helpless fellows on the earth. The authoritative world has designed some draconian laws that have put the teachers to ultimate limits and they are just tutors and not teachers. On the one hand the education system requires the teachers to play a prominent role in designing the future of the students and on the other hand the teachers have been made so bound by the rules that the students have lost the impression of a teacher to the extent that they treat teachers as puppets in their hands and even threaten the teachers of registering complaints against them in case they ask them to mend their behavior and ways of learning process. There is no doubt that some unprofessional teachers have defamed this job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole teaching community is weighed on the same scale. If students are provided with the safety and security why not teachers. Recently it was reported by national media that a middle standard student in Uttar Pardesh could shoot his teacher only on the pretext that the teacher had slapped him inside the class.
Although being a teacher I agree with the protective laws with regard to child’s safety that put teachers under limits and remind him of his professional limitations. The anti-sexual harassment rules like POCSO and anti-corporal punishment acts are need of the hour, but the matter of concern is how these laws are being used by the school management and immediate law-enforcing agencies. How the teaching community is being exploited on the pretext of these laws has got such an intensity that in future nobody would prefer to be a teacher. How can teacher protect his character in a co-educational system where he has mature boys and girls together inside his class? What can he do in a situation when he is supposed to be friendly with the students in order to impart education in a better way and at the same time restricted from being hard to them? When he is friendly the authorities treat him as a moral less being and when he is strict with the students he is blamed for harassment and torture.
So on this great day of teachers, I would like to put forward my modest proposals before the readers’ community that might forward it to the concerned domain that a teacher is a helpless and the most weak person in current society. As a nation, we must advocate for his honor and prestige. We should also talk about his safety and security. As parents we must train our children to respect their teachers up to a maximum level. Teachers are next to parents and that is why they are called co-parents as our children remain with teachers most of the times and with us for a least time until they complete education. It is the teacher who not only shares his knowledge and experience with students, but also showers love and affection on his students to such an extent that he sometimes forgets himself and his own children. At the same time, I would like to request the teachers’ community to be strictly professional and perform their duty as per the professional standards. Teachers must train themselves according to the educational requirements of the times and must give their best to the students so that they are builders of nation in real sense. They should not promote the coaching culture and tuition tactics. As we have seen that the students would get education even when there were no tuition centers or coaching hubs or private schools. Concluded)

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