Dr. Ghulam Nabi Shakir

Principal, Govt. High School

Warburton, Pakistan

Tel: +92 345 4101479

E-mail: gnshakir@hotmail.com

Unfortunately Pakistani school teachers

do not enjoy positive social image. There is a

common comment about teaching profession

that it is the noblest of all professions but on

the other hand it is regarded as the last choice

of capable and merit holders. Present study

records and documents the voices of newly

inducted teachers in primary and secondary

schools about societal and governmental

attitudes towards teachers and

recommendations made by them for

improvement of social image of the teachers.

Ten male and ten female teachers serving in

different public schools of district Nankana

Sahib were interviewed for their suggestions

in this regard. Semi structured interviewing

technique was used. The study was

qualitative in nature. Major themes like low

social status, negative stereotypes,

humiliating jokes and rewards for teachers

etc. were explored from transcribed data and

findings were presented with illustrations from

interview data.

Research Questions

•What is newly inducted schoolteachers’

perception of their public image?

•What suggestions newly inducted school

teachers offer to improve their public image?

Methodology

The study was qualitative in nature. A

semi structured interview was conducted

with ten volunteer respondents out of 91

recently inducted teachers in district

Nankana Sahib. Time rang for each

interview was 30 to 35 minutes. Interview

data were transcribed and analyzed for

major themes and suggestions they

offered.

Data Collection

Data were collected through a semi structured

interview. Respondents were interviewed at

their work place. The concept of public image

was clearly explained to the respondents.

They were asked to speak about their public

image, discuss society’s attitude towards

teaching profession and give suggestion to

improve the present image of school teachers.

Data analysis

Interviews were audio tapped and transcribed

for further analysis. Major themes were

identified by employing coding procedure.

Findings

Major findings in response to research question 1

Teaching : A Laughing Stock

“When I met with one of my varsity class fellow, after

I joined school side. I told him about my appointment

as a school teacher, he started laughing, and said, “you

are Mashter jee! What happened to you? Why did you

join teaching?”

(Face to face communication, 28-7-2013)

A Touch of Apology

“I want to do advance studies I mean M.Phil

and PhD but job is all important and my age

limit for job. I am not staying here too long as

soon as I get a chance in some related field, I

will quit.”

(Face to face communication, 2-8-2013)

Major findings in response to research

question 2

Awards and Rewards

“Just fifty thousand or a lac is nothing these days, a

performing teacher is a national asset she must be

treated like a heroin, in order to recognize her

among other employees, reward her with land

ownership plus cash for construction not less than

20 lacs.”

(Face to face communication, 4-8-2013)

Better Pay Packages/facilities

“We are equally intelligent and qualified as

selectees of competitive exams. We are not

educationally inferior to them, but they enjoy

abundance of privileges, I mean official car, free

fuel and above all authority to work. These are the

things which shape their public image. If we are

granted with interest free loans to buy our car, it

would definitely add color to our social picture.”

(Face to face communication, 1-8-2013)

Recommendations

•More intensive research is needed in this field to increase the

chance of success in public sector school education.

•Government should build full trust in teachers by meeting their

demands to make their self and public image better.

•Government should take concrete measures to retain the quality

teachers within the set up by offering them market competitive

salaries and other benefits.

•Students’ positive attitudes towards their teachers help teachers to

stay in the profession. All the stakeholders should put

•their heads together to improve matters of teachers’ perception in

the community they are living in.