Without Teachers, there is no tomorrow
By Josephine Ali
They once stood tall with chalk in hand, shaping the minds that built our world. Today, many of those same teachers bend low with bowls, struggling to survive. What was once a noble calling has become a desperate struggle for survival.
The tragedy of teaching in our society is not hidden; it stares us in the face every morning as we pass schools with broken windows, as we overhear lessons taught without electricity, as we see teachers trekking home under the scorching sun because they cannot afford transport fare. It is in the vacant eyes of a teacher trying to inspire a class while wondering how to feed her own children at night.
We stripped teachers of their dignity. We mocked their tattered clothes. We boasted about cheap tuition that came at the expense of their salaries. At every PTA meeting, parents argued over whether they deserved better pay. We celebrated “affordable education,” forgetting that affordability was built on the starvation of those delivering it. We expected them to teach with passion while their stomachs were empty, and we acted surprised when passion gave way to frustration.
Today, the brightest minds no longer dream of teaching. The top students choose technology, banking, entertainment, or even content creation on platforms like TikTok—not because they lack respect for education, but because teaching has been made unattractive, unrewarding, and unsustainable. Why would a graduate with talent and ambition walk into a classroom where salaries are delayed, sometimes unpaid for months, and where public scorn follows them outside school walls?
And so, our children now sit before those who often never wanted to be there. They are taught not by inspired educators but by individuals forced into the classroom by circumstance, by lack of opportunity, by desperation. In some schools, teaching has become a last resort, not a first choice.
Teachers’ struggles have become an open secret. Some spend their mornings in the classroom and their evenings on motorcycles as commercial riders (okada). Others rush from lessons to markets to sell second-hand clothes or food items to keep their families afloat. Some cannot pay their own children’s school fees, so their sons and daughters sit at home while they stand before other people’s children, reciting multiplication tables.
We see them trekking long distances, dusty shoes carrying weary steps. We see their helpless faces at bus stops, calculating if their salary can stretch to transport and still leave enough for food. We see their worn-out bags, their faded shirts, their tired eyes. But we pretend not to notice.
And yet, with astonishing irony, society still demands miracles from an education system built on their suffering. We complain that students cannot spell, cannot write, cannot reason critically. But what do we expect when those tasked with shaping young minds are themselves starved of the very dignity and resources needed to inspire learning?
Let’s not pretend—we did this.
By neglecting teachers, we built a generation that laughs at books.
By underpaying them, we raised youths who cannot spell “respect.”
By humiliating them, we killed the future of our nation.
We cannot demand an excellent educational system while treating teachers as expendable. Every society that has prospered has invested heavily in its educators. From Finland to Singapore, countries that celebrated quality education did not stumble into success—they chose to make teaching a profession of prestige. Teachers there are trained, paid, and honoured as nation-builders. Here, we treat them as a nuisance.
It is no wonder then that classrooms are becoming graveyards of dreams. Children stare blankly at blackboards, repeating words they do not understand, while teachers go through the motions, drained of energy and hope. Education is collapsing not because teachers are incapable, but because the conditions we have imposed on them are intolerable.
Consider this: in many regions, teachers wait months for salaries. Some are paid less than what a casual labourer earns at a construction site. In rural schools, teachers are often posted without housing, forcing them to live miles away and trek daily. Where is the motivation to prepare engaging lessons under such conditions? Where is the space for innovation in teaching when survival itself is at stake?
The neglect of teachers is not just an individual tragedy—it is a national crisis. When teachers lose dignity, students lose respect. When teachers are silenced by poverty, children grow up without guidance. When classrooms become zones of despair, nations lose their future workforce, thinkers, and leaders. And students begin to say school na scam because the teachers are no treated well.
This is why we now have youths who mock hard work, who search for shortcuts to success, who see education not as a tool for liberation but as an outdated ritual. By starving teachers, we starved society of its moral compass. By mocking teachers, we taught the young to mock wisdom.
But it does not have to remain this way. Restoring the honour of teachers is not just a moral obligation—it is a survival strategy for any society that hopes to thrive.
Teachers must be paid living wages, not survival stipends. Salaries should be regular, competitive, and reflective of the value they add. When we pay entertainers millions but leave teachers in penury, we reveal what our society truly values.
They also deserve opportunities for training, research, and growth. The best teachers are lifelong learners; but how can they learn when they cannot even afford books or internet data?
No teacher can inspire in a classroom with broken chairs and leaking roofs. Governments and communities must prioritise equipping schools with basic facilities.
Society must change its attitude towards teachers. Respect is not a luxury; it is the minimum. Children should grow up seeing teachers celebrated, not ridiculed.
If you are a parent, speak up. Demand that teachers in your child’s school are treated fairly. Stop clapping for “cheap tuition” when it comes at the cost of someone’s hunger. If you are in power, act. Create policies that make teaching attractive again. Give teachers the place they deserve at the centre of national planning. And if you are a teacher, do not lose hope—your calling remains the cornerstone of tomorrow, even when the world seems ungrateful.
Because without teachers, there is no future. Without teachers, there is no tomorrow.
The time has come to rise as a people and restore honour to those who shaped our paths. A nation that neglects its teachers is a nation digging its own grave. But a nation that values its teachers writes a future of hope, progress, and prosperity.
