It is said that a good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning in a student. But for that to happen in reality, students and teachers need to understand each other well, interact and share a strong bond.
However, according to a research survey our team conducted recently, student-teacher relationship in Indian colleges seems to be far from ideal!
349 college students from 50 plus colleges across India participated in this research survey. According to the research findings, interaction among students and teachers in Indian colleges appears to be quite low. (See Infographic below).
A mere 11% of students responded that they interacted the most with their teachers Not surprisingly, the majority (65%) of respondents said they interacted the most with “friends”. Thirteen per cent of the respondents said it was their “parents”, 5% said it was the college alumni and 3% each said they interacted the most with college management and the college administration.
That’s not all. On being asked how much one-on-one attention do students get from their teachers in college, more than half (56%) of the students said “a little” and another 13% said “not at all” taking the total to 69%. While about 18% of the respondents said they got “a lot” of attention, only 12% of students reported it was “not required”.
Clearly, there is something amiss in our higher education institutions for not considering student-teacher interaction a significant part of college life. Teachers are a vault of experience and knowledge in their fields of expertise as well as individuals and this sharing of knowledge and experience with students can guide students to make better decisions about their college, education and life.
