For truth and justice
The Hindu
With World Teachers’ Day falling next week, a reflection on what it means to be an ethical teacher
Recently, I had an interesting conversation with a retired professor on the characteristics of good teachers. He asked me: “What are the personal qualities that a teacher needs to become a great teacher?” After a few seconds of silence, I said, “There are many but the most important is that the teacher should be ethical.”
Being ethical means being faithful to moral standards and being fair, honest and just. An ethical teacher is a person with adequate knowledge and skills required for the profession, who is known for their integrity that is revealed through their compassion, fairness, conviction, commitment and courage, and who gladly stands for truth and boldly fights for justice.
Do we have such ethical teachers today? Do our educational institutions recognise such teachers? It is good to reflect on these questions when we celebrate World Teachers’ Day on October 5. The UNESCO declared this day to be World Teachers’ Day in 1994 marking the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.
Bengaluru saw one of its worst water crises in 2024 with ground water drying up and several parts of the city scrambling for water. With instances like BWSSB supplying treated wastewater to the construction industry, apartments being permitted to sell water from their STPs to the department, and lakes in parts of Bengaluru and neighbouring districts being filled with water from the 33 STP plants in the city, recycling of water became an important topic of conversation during this period.