Thank Your Teachers – They deserve respect & recognition

We all remember our favourite teachers, and do wish them or miss them on Teachers’ Day!  Ever wondered, what would be the best ‘guru dakshina’ that we can offer our teachers, our mentors or who we call our gurus?

Indian teachers expect nothing more than ‘gratitude from students’. While we kind of expected that of this noble profession, the belief has been confirmed through ‘Pearson Voice of Teacher Survey’. A whopping 76% teachers say that they value gratitude as the highest form of recognition, more than monetary rewards. The survey conducted online and offline had the participation from 3,262 teachers from schools and higher education institutes in 223 tier I, II and III cities across 25 Indian states.

One of the major findings of the survey, conducted to get a first hand perspective of the challenges facing the educators in today’s environment, reveals that majority of teachers(72%) feel that students adequately acknowledge them for success, however, 61% perceive a marked decline in the level of gratitude towards teachers over the past decade. This decline is more visible in the north vis-à-vis other regions. Another issue is the falling student interest in the classroom. This is a cause of concern – It’s time to introspect and assess our attitudes towards our teachers, our gurus.

Celebrating the role of teachers in shaping the society, Pearson has announced ‘Thank Your Teacher’ – a nationwide initiative engaging current as well as past students to come forward and express their gratitude for the teachers who they feel made a difference to their lives.

Now, if you want to make your teachers feel special, you can. While there is no dearth of ways to do so with the proliferation of communication channels available to us today, but we seem to be too busy to take a moment to look back and show appreciation and say ‘Thank You!’.  What makes Pearson’s ‘Thank Your Teacher’ initiative unique is that it offers students a platform to send out thank you notes and videos to their favourite teachers by logging onto www.pearsonthankyourteacher.in  or sending a ‘Thankyou’ SMS to 56161. Your little effort can make a huge difference, as “the teachers who are thanked through this initiative automatically get invited to send in their nominations for Pearson Teaching Awards,” said Srikanth B Iyer, CEO, Pearson Education Services & Tutor Vista, speaking at the launch event.

Introduced in the year 2012, Pearson Teaching Awards seek to celebrate teaching excellence and recognise extraordinary performers of the teaching profession. The next edition of The Pearson Teaching Awards to be held in December 2013 will extend beyond school teachers. Entries are invited from teachers all over the country, under 21 award categories across school and higher education. Nomination forms for the awards can be downloaded from www.pearsonteaching awards.in .

Start with wishing - "Happy Teachers' Day!" today and make it a habit to show your gratitude each and every day.