By AUSTIN KALUBA –

In 2010, the British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to raise standards in schools by turning teaching into a ‘noble profession’ once more.
The Tory leader said a government he led would be ‘brazenly elitist’ when it came to picking the best teachers.
He said graduates would no longer be able to enter the profession without a high standard degree qualification.
The Tory leader also announced plans to launch a ‘Teach Now’ scheme to enable professionals to apply to work for schools under a fast-track system.
His move was hailed as progressive since, like Zambia, teaching in Britain had lost its enviable tag of being a noble profession.
In Zambia we need the same approach since the profession is now beset with a myriad of problems that have relegated the career to a low level which calls for measures to recapture the glory teachers enjoyed in yesteryears.
People should understand that a teacher is never an ordinary person since construction and destruction of a child can be done in his classroom.
Thus teaching is a very important activity on which the base of any nation and culture is established.
The word ‘teaching’ means the work of a teacher to provide knowledge and guidance. Mark the word ‘guidance.’
It is one of the oldest and noblest services to society in any culture. But the question arises if teaching is a profession or a duty first.
According to The Oxford Dictionary the word ‘profession’ means ‘a paid occupation’ and ‘duty’ means ‘a moral responsibility’.
Teaching is considered the noblest among all the professions since all professionals undergo education with a teacher. It’s also a process to prepare the next generation of skilled professionals and workers like politician, engineers, doctors, policemen, priests, educators, legislators and good citizens.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle rightly said, “Those who educate the children are more to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.”
So teaching is a profession that provides an art of living. It is not only a duty but a moral duty. It is not a profession but a noble service to the world to create a more beautiful and peaceful world. In Zambia, like in any society you can tell the standards of education by merely analysing a generation.
Considering this aspect, the position taken by the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) recently to urge teachers to acquire genuine teacher’s qualifications for them to be recruited by the Ministry of Education is commendable.
Concerns were raised when a record 800 applicants who did not have grade 12 certificates with five O-level passes and others with fake qualifications were rejected during the just-ended teacher recruitment exercise.
ZNUT general secretary Newman Bubala said that teachers should at all times follow the Ministry of Education guidelines and acquire proper teacher’s qualifications for them to be recruited.
Mr Bubala said people should not use shortcuts but have correct qualifications to be considered for employment in the public service.
He commended the Ministry for putting up a strong mechanism to detect fake qualifications, adding that, the move would also help to recruit qualified teachers and help improve education standards.
The unionist has also appealed to institutions providing education services to follow the Ministry of Education guideline and teach in line with the current curriculum.
Such good news concerning the teaching service in Zambia is welcome in view of examination leakages, unqualified staff allowed to teach and other misconduct involving teachers.
One would imagine what would have happened if the 800 teachers were absorbed in the teaching service.
They were going to add to the already existing mediocrity by sharing ignorance with the pupils they were supposed to teach.
Recently the government in Britain threatened to fire thousands of teachers if they failed to study for formal teaching qualifications, claiming they did not “deserve” to be in the classroom.
The then Labour shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt, said any state school teachers that refused to at least begin training for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) would be fired.
Labour had already vowed to make all state school teachers qualified – overturning earlier rules that allowed free schools and academies to employ teachers without QTS.
Zambia should be no exception by lowering standards which will have a negative effect in future by producing a half-baked generation of pupils.
Like is the case in Britain where high education standards are usually adhered to, the Ministry of Education in Zambia should make teaching a well-rewarded occupation by offering new financial incentives to the brighest graduates.
The Government should reward the best candidates and block the weakest if we are to recapture the ‘noble profession’ tag that has eluded the teaching profession.
The Government should also raise the entry qualifications at all levels in teaching – primary, secondary and tertiary.
If this is implemented, the status of teachers will once again be among the most respected members of society.
Contrary to what is pertaining now, the teaching profession should be made a noble profession to attract the best brains.
As things stand, teaching is shunned as a last choice for people who cannot make it in other professions.
Zambia can solve the problems in the teaching industry by learning from countries such as Finland, Singapore and South Korea which have some of the best education systems in the world because of deliberately making teaching a high prestige profession.
Respected, highly-qualified teachers are a key part of a good government’s response to the country’s social problems.
Normally teaching should be a noble profession for various reasons, with one of the most common being that teachers help to educate future generations.
More generally, some have described teachers as “agents of the future,” because they help people acquire the skills necessary to take on new challenges and contribute to the world in meaningful ways.
If teaching standards are low in society, results will surface in future spawning a semi-literate society.