Work-style of ministries: Part six or the Premier’s saga
Armenia’s Premier announced yesterday: “Haven’t we witnessed few examples when a teacher is not a true teacher or the doctor is not a true doctor?” The PM’s statement came when speaking of the state-adopted ‘optimization’ programme for education and medical institutions amid a growing concern over the mass layoffs.
The reasonable question arises how to decide on whether a teacher is a true teacher or a doctor is a true doctor with no exams and attestation ever conducted. It came just days ago when the opposite process was observed; several schools were optimized and shut down under the pretext of having fewer number of students, others were enlarged. Teachers were ultimately left without job.
The classrooms turned into kindergartens overloaded and consequently inefficient for the education process. Instead of analyzing and changing the methods, students are tasked to catch up with more homework assignments and all the burden placed on parents.
We are not sure whether a parent is a true parent, whether they are able to do the assignments given by non-teachers in between of their household chores and serials, or whether children struggle with the increased workload, being exposed to health risk. That is even a bigger threat, since ‘the doctor is not a true doctor.’
It came to light all of a sudden that the matter was not about the number of schools, that not that state was unable to ensure the school operation, but rather optimization was justified with “teachers being not true teachers.”
Can we expect having a true teacher without having a true education? Why did teachers failed to become a true professional if they had received proper education? They shouldn’t have entered, graduated and subsequently entered the schools.
Who is behind the vicious cycle for children? Why are we causing more of a hindrance than a help? Where is the education policy, lacking social justice, instead yielding the pressure of the partisan politics? And ultimately who will take the responsibility for all consequences of closing down the schools and using their premises for business purposes.
Is it because the teacher is not a true teacher and the human is a true.