BEING the daughter of a father who spent his entire life in the field of education, I am witness to the sorry state of teachers in the country. In most countries, teaching is a profession of high esteem, because the state believes that teachers are the key players in cultivating the nation’s young minds. This is the type of attitude we need in this country. Since independence, education has been ignored and has been put on the back burner. According to various economic surveys, public expenditure on education is below two per cent, far below the 4pc recommended by the United Nations. Capable people choose other avenues for utilising their talents, because there are no incentives to attract them towards the field of education. People usually opt for teaching only under compulsion to survive when no other option is available to them. As a society, we have been unable to shed our colonial mentality of according respect only to people who yield power, privilege and status. Even when people become teachers out of passion, their opinions are usually ignored by society, undermining the respect of the profession. If we truly want to emerge as a prosperous nation, we should follow in the footsteps of countries where teachers are treated with respect, and are offered better benefits.