Less than a week ago, the Education Minister announced that 24,053 teachers would have the opportunity to be promoted to higher positions than the ones they currently hold. This is indeed a piece of news welcomed by those who are serving in one of the biggest professions in Malaysia. Apart from other benefits enjoyed by teachers in recent years including salary increment and creation of new positions and schemes, this positive development is also very pleasing to others since almost no one can detach themselves from teachers in one way or another.
The decision indeed reflects a concerted effort by the government to put back teachers in their proper place that commensurates with their invaluable contributions in preparing the important foundation for the future generation of the nation.
As far as history is concerned, the primary position of teachers in the society is beyond doubt. They have been very influential not only in educating pupils in schools but also the society in general, becoming the point of reference in various issues wherever they may be, either in a small kampung or in the big city. They have been appointed as leaders in many organisations due to their credentials. Some of them such as Abdul Hadi Hassan, Buyong Adil and Tan Sri Aziz Stapa were teachers who were very actively leading the people with their high fighting spirits towards the independence of Malaya. Similarly, teaching institutions such as the Sultan Idris Training College had produced many leaders of great calibre among the teachers. They, in other words, are the real transformers of the society.
In Islam, teachers are accorded a noble position mainly due to their role as bearers and conveyors of knowledge which is already rendered as one of the highest virtues due to a few reasons:
First, The Qur’an and many sayings of the Prophet continuously emphasise the importance of knowledge and those who contribute in spreading it to others. So significant is knowledge to man that God raises the position of believers and those who are given knowledge by many levels. A strong reminder on the importance of knowledge by the Qur’an comes in the form of a question, “Are they equal those who know and those who do not know?” Another verse relates knowledge with true piety to God, “Indeed, the one who fears Allah are among the knowledgable person.”
Emphasising the same concern, a hadith of the Prophet places knowledge as something obligatory to every Muslim man and woman. Imam Shafi’ie, one of the renowned Imams in Islamic jurisprudence, in his famous poetry, says that, “Knowledge is light and the light of God will not penetrate the heart which is full of sins.”
Secondly, knowledge as elaborated by al-Ghazali, serves two purposes, the pragmatic and the ethical. Through the pragmatic purpose, knowledge can be a means to an end, while through the ethical, it can be an end by itself. For the former, one can gain practical aims such as a good job and wealth especially in this modern world. It can even be a means to control and conquer others as implied in the saying of Francis Bacon, “Knowledge is Power.”
However, knowledge also serves an ethical purpose in that even without directly being a means to other practical ends, having knowledge itself is already something virtuous. This is simply because knowledge is something that is enlightening. True knowledge will bring certainty, erase doubt and bring about tranquility in the soul, and ultimately produce a truly virtuous person. This is what had been emphasised by the sages throughout time as early as the Greeks with their saying, “Knowledge is virtue.”
In fact, it is this second purpose of knowledge that becomes a challenge to all teachers today. We may produce through our educational system a multitude of students who will continue their studies to the highest level, then climbing up the career ladder towards the highest position in the society, yet whether the knowledge they bear will also transform them into ethical and virtuous people is something to be pondered over. Many cases involving unethical conduct among students reported daily are no doubt very much worrying.
Thus, it is now back to the teachers to play their role to the utmost. Salary increment and promotions announced by the government obviously come with some strings attached. Teachers have to be innovative in their real role as transformers of the society in teaching pupils to achieve both the practical and ethical purposes in life. The theme for the 2012 Teachers Day is already indicative of this role, “Innovative Teachers Accelerate Educational Transformation.” We also hope that with the high cost the governnment has invested in teachers, they will be able to come up with the best results. For, Bob Talbert, a Detroit columnist, used to say, “Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more.”
