A Teacher is the architect of the future. It deals with the mental and physical make up of students. They are the drives of the most contributing factor of nation building sector, education. Within this institution they architect the future, by shaping and reshaping students’ attitude in an extensive teaching and learning process. Over all speaking, it has the undeniable role in process of nation building.
A Teacher is the symbol of a society. They represent and teach norms as well as values of a society inside and outside of a class. Within the profession they have personal traits such as “sympathy and kindness, fairness and impartiality, resourcefulness, patience, good manners, emotional stability, honesty, sense of humour, self-control, creativeness, resourcefulness, interpersonal relationship with the communities and students, role model and community advisers.” (OBIANI ARUGU: 2021)
A Teacher is a social agent of change. They help others to acquire knowledge, competences or values of a society. Through knowledge and skills, they help societies build a defensive mechanism for existence and development. When any society encounters challenges, there is no effective solution that could be reached without the full commitment of a teacher, since any possible solution demands a trained power with the appropriate knowledge and skills to solve the problem.
Education and development are inseparable concepts in the process of nation building. In definition, education is a crucial national institution where students acquire necessary knowledge, skills, habits and information. While development is the level where societies strive to possess a better quality of life and standard of living. Here, education provides a well-trained human resource to all national developmental sectors (Health, education, security, agriculture, financial and other). In other words, a teacher is the facilitator of development through the provision of trained man power in all national development sectors.
A Teacher is not only limited to a class room, since they are the image of social identity. Wherever they are, their professional responsibility to share knowledge and guide the society is in place. To limit teacher’s engagement in a society is disastrous. Any society who gives high respect to its teachers has a bright future to reach.
In Eritrea, every year, youth being assigned in the teaching profession is exponentially rising. They are placed mostly in areas where education is scarce. Here, teachers have the chance to explore different environments and communities. This helps both the teacher and the community create a bond and work hand in hand for satisfactory results of their students.
Teacher as the architect of the future, Eritrean teachers are persistently working to realize the future that is outlined in our national charter. According to our national charter, “Our vision is for Eritrea to become a country where peace, justice, democracy and prosperity prevails. Our vision is to eliminate hunger, poverty and illiteracy from Eritrea. Our vision is for Eritrea to preserve its identity and uniqueness, develop commitment to family and community care, and by advancing economically, educationally and technologically, find itself among the developed countries. Our vision is for Eritrean society to be known for harmony among its different sectors, gender equality, love of country, humanity, discipline, hard work and love for knowledge, respect for law and order, independence and inventiveness. Our vision is to perform miracles in peaceful nation-building as we did in the war of liberation”.
At last, a teacher is the architect of the future with boundless space of social engagement. Since there is no development without education, and education without a teacher, the future is in the hands of teachers. Eritrea as a developing nation, all teachers in unity with the people have to engage in the relentless nation building process.
Written by Kidane Shmendi