Teaching has always been a divine profession. Every religion that makes a divinity claim always views the sacred as a teacher or source of instruction—the one who shows the way. Since ancient times, a teacher was never merely someone who made a person literate; it was someone who made the whole person. They were moulders of character, shapers of values, builders of society and harbingers of a better future. Parents were considered the first teachers, and schoolteachers extended that sacred duty.

Unfortunately, like many other things, the fluidity of the description of a teacher has been sacrificed for the convenience of separating concerns. Today, a teacher is typically one who instructs in schools according to a fixed curriculum. In this system where exams and marks are the obsession, teachers are forced to hurriedly finish syllabi within impossibly tight deadlines. The nurturing of curiosity, empathy, or ethical responsibility has been all but exiled from the timetable.

Worse still, for many, teaching has been reduced to just a "job." Low pay, lack of dignity, bureaucratic interference, and a climate of indifference have forced thousands into the profession without passion. There are, of course, extraordinary teachers who strive against the tide, but unfortunately, their impact is borderline, swallowed up by the rotting system.

The BJP-RSS government, far from nurturing education, is actively damaging it. Instead of empowering teachers to cultivate critical thinking among the students, it has weaponised education for propaganda. Textbooks are being rewritten to erase truths as you read this. Freedom fighters are being sidelined, and Hindutva icons—who, alongside the Muslim League, pushed the country towards partition—are being recast as heroes. Myths are being paraded as history, and communal hatred masquerades as patriotism; the whole world is laughing at us.

In this bleak sky, teachers are the only rays of hope that remain. They are the last bastion of resistance against hate and division. They have to hold the frontline in classrooms where children must be taught to distinguish facts from fabrication. The responsibility laid on their shoulders is immense. They have to quietly, sometimes subversively, keep alive the spirit of common sense, the dignity of reason, and the courage to question.

Teachers must look back to the roots of their profession. Their duty is also civic and moral. While the propaganda is seeping into every crevice of public life, teachers alone remain in daily, direct contact with the next generation. If they surrender, India is doomed. We risk raising children who can calculate, memorise and chant slogans but never question, empathise and challenge.

To be a true teacher in India today is to choose courage. It means insisting that education is not just about marking answer sheets, but about shaping the citizens of tomorrow. It means resisting the narrowing of knowledge into ideology, sometimes even against their own families and friends. It means standing against a tide of hate through word and example.

On Teacher's Day, let us honour the courage of those teachers who continue to teach values, justice, and humanity. They are India's last guardians of truth.