Over Half of Indian Parents Want Their Kids to Be Teachers: Study

Over half of Indian parents who took part in a global study said they want their children to take up a career in teaching.

The study— ‘Global Teacher Status Index (GTSI) 2018’— conducted by UK-based Varkey Foundation and released on Nov. 8, revealed that a little more than half or 54 percent of Indian parents polled said they encourage their children to become teachers, more than in any other country surveyed, including China (50 percent).

According to a PTI report, in comparison, less than a quarter of British people or 23 percent would encourage their children to become a teacher, while only 6 percent Russians, the lowest in the world, would encourage their child to become a teacher.

The Indian news agency said, overall India is ranked eighth among the 35 countries surveyed, in which China is the highest-ranked country and Brazil the lowest.

For the very first time, the index reveals that there is a direct connection between a teacher’s status and student’s performance as measured by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores.

“When we conducted the ‘Global Teacher Status Index’ five years ago we were alarmed by the weight of evidence pointing to the low status of teachers around the world. It was this that inspired us to create the Global Teacher Prize, which shines a light on the extraordinary work that teachers do around the world,” said Indian-origin entrepreneur and philanthropist Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Varkey Foundation. Varkey, one of the Indian origin billionaires in the Gulf, owns Gems Education, a school operator.

The news agency said the survey is based on in-depth opinion polling and analysis by Prof. Peter Dolton and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research of over 35,000 adults aged 16-64 and over 5,500 additional serving teachers across 35 countries, including India. The 2018 index is an extension of the first GTSI, which surveyed 21 countries back in 2013 and inspired the Varkey Foundation’s annual $1 million Global Teacher Prize.

According to other statistics in the survey, over three-quarters or 77 percent of Indian respondents think that students respect their teachers – the third-highest of any country surveyed after Uganda (79 percent) and China (81 percent) while only 9 percent of people in Brazil think pupils respect their teachers, the lowest of all countries polled.

The survey also points out that Indians had faith in their country’s education system. With a rating of 7.11 out of 10, India came fourth highest of any country polled. Finland (8), Switzerland (7.2), and Singapore (7.1) were ranked higher. The country with the least rated education system was Egypt where the rating was 3.8.

When asked to rank 14 professions in order of respect (including headteachers, primary and secondary teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, and librarians), Indian respondents ranked headteachers the fourth-highest of all the countries surveyed after Malaysia, Indonesia, and China, PTI said.

Quoting figures from the survey, PTI said Indians ranked secondary school teachers the seventh-highest of all the countries surveyed, with China ranking them the highest.