Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s Oath for Teachers

Dear Teachers,

Reflect on these statements and question along with your colleagues.

1. First and foremost, I will love teaching. Teaching will be my soul.
Q. How much do I enjoy teaching and how much do I put my heart and soul into my work?
If I do not enjoy teaching, what was the reason for me choosing this profession? What would help me to enjoy it more?

2. I realise that I am responsible for shaping not just students but igniting youths who are the most powerful resource under the earth, on the earth and above the earth. I will be fully committed to the great mission of teaching.
Q. How committed my teaching is? Do I see it as a mission and do I ignite the youth I teach with enthusiasm for learning? How could I do this better?

3. I will consider myself to be a great teacher for I can lift the average to the best performance by way of my special teaching.
Q. What is special about my teaching? Share this with your colleagues to inspire them.

4. All my actions with my students will be with kindness and affection like a mother, sister, father or brother.
Q. How do I treat the children in my class? Do my colleagues’ perceptions of my relationships match my own?

5. I will organise and conduct my life, in such a way that my life itself is a message for my students.
Q. In what ways am I a good role model for my students? In what areas could I make improvements?

6. I will encourage my students to ask questions and develop the spirit of enquiry, so that they blossom into creative enlightened citizens.
Q. Do I mainly ‘tell’ my students or ‘ask them questions? How often do I encourage them to have a ‘spirit of enquiry’? What opportunities do I give them to be creative?

7. I will treat all the students equally and will not support any differentiation on account of religion community or language.
Q. How do I plan for the different needs of all the students in my classes? Do I really treat them all equally by differentiating work appropriately for them, or do I teach them as though they were all the same?

8. I will continuously build the capacities in teaching so that I can impart quality education for my students.
Q. What in-service done myself to improve teaching skills? How have I implemented this in my lessons?

9. I will celebrate the success of my students, with great elan.
Q. How do I celebrate my students’ successes, large and small?

10. I realise by being a teacher, I am making an important contribution to all the national development initiatives.
Q. What are some of the latest ‘national development initiatives’?  Without your full commitment, India (or your own country if outside India) will not have the people with the skills needed for its development. How have you implemented any of them?

11. I will constantly endeavour to fill my mind with great thoughts and spread the nobility in thinking and action.
Q. You a Very Important Person. Give the children you teach, and your country, the best you can give.Reflect on these statements and question along with your colleagues.

This article has been written by Avinash Agarwal who works as CEO with AIETS –a research based educational organization. AIETS school programme, ELEVATE is a 21st century learning system which helps not only in CCE implementation but also builds skills like creative thinking, critical thinking, collaboration and communication thereby preparing students for challenges of 21st century. Elevate programme helps in connecting classroom learning with real life experiences and can be used to assess both scholastic and co-scholastic skills. Elevate brings student at the center stage of learning process and creates an environment where students can explore and acquire knowledge in their own style at their own pace. Team Elevate is working closely with more than 600 schools and helping them transform conventional classroom into collaborative/activity based 21st Century classroom.