Keynote Address: Dr. Govinda (Vice Chancellor of National University of Educational Planning and Administration)

Teaching, is an ancient, and formerly respected vocation in India. But in modern-day India, according to Dr. R. Govinda, teachers are no longer respected, and therefore, no longer professionalized. In times past, the "guru" taught as part of a social contract with a village or community. Now, teachers are laborers in a factory model of education where they are responsible to the state (in an employer-employee contract) but no longer to the community.

We need to professionalize teaching--to return it to a respected profession full of respected professionals who feel bound to a community, not simply to an employer.