Any teacher getting a state/national award is held in high esteem as it is a prestigious one. The process involves detailing one’s own achievements as a teacher to be described which would be whetted by the head master / principal before it’s sent to the awards committee. There are several criteria to be satisfied and there is always competition as to who would get the award in any particular category. Normally, a committee headed by an eminent educationist would head such an award selection committee. However, the flip side of the teacher’s award selection process is that some teachers think blowing their own trumpet to be considered for selection is not the right thing to do and hence they do not enter the race for the award. Thus, a few really deserving candidates opt out voluntarily from the awards scheme, a loss to the deserving teacher as well as to the award scheme.

A few educational institutions, at least at the high school level, have instituted a teacher’s award, with a few modifications to the State / Centre teacher’s award scheme, tailor-made to their needs. This involves an annual award of cash, normally a month’s pay, along with a citation. Several criteria are taken into account for judging the ‘best’ teacher in any category. The first consideration is the teacher’s performance over the year – punctuality, attendance, neatness / appearance / decorum, any complaint from students / parents, innovative methods introduced by the candidate on his / her own initiative, promptness in giving class tests / feedback to students, class results, self study, participation in workshops / seminars / lectures, sponsored as well as one’s own initiative, getting on well with other teachers that includes teamwork, when needed and extra-curricular activities like taking students to picnics, debate / music / athletic competitions and so on.

Apart from the teacher’s own performance, feedback from peers is taken into account by a confidential report where each teacher is expected to give his / her independent and unbiased opinion about the other teacher who could be in line for the teacher’s award. The management could shortlist the prospective candidates for the award and request the rest of the teachers what they think of the candidates about their capability and whether they deserve the award. This could be subjective but cannot be helped. A certain degree of confidentiality has to be preserved to avoid embarrassment to those who are in line for the award. Some school managements also ask the senior high school students, class ten, to give their opinion about teachers by maintaining anonymity to avoid any trouble / embarrassment to the teachers under consideration as well as students. A format could be designed which need not be signed by the students to keep up the confidentiality of the feedback.

When the two sets of feedback are received, the management sub-committee meets to consider the recommendations received. In general, there could be unanimity in their decision where outstanding candidates are in line for the award. However, as the years go by, when all the ‘outstanding’ candidates have already received their ‘best teacher’ awards, it becomes a difficult task. There is a temptation to dilute the award scheme so that the ‘other’ teachers too get their award in due course. This is not a good idea as the prestige of such an award diminishes if ‘undeserving’ candidates get the award just because there are no suitable candidates. It’s also not proper that the same candidate gets the best teacher award every year or regularly. Often, this award scheme dies a natural death after the initial enthusiasm is over and the management comes to the conclusion that no useful purpose would be served if the award scheme were kept alive.

However, even when the award scheme is in operation for a few years, the scheme is hardly motivating. In fact, there is a general resentment that a certain teacher got the award whereas there were others more ‘deserving’. This in spite of the fact the process of selection is assumed to be fair by the management. But the important point to note is that any scheme however fair should be seen as fair and just by those involved. This could happen if the management takes the teachers into confidence before formulating the best teacher award scheme. Let there be a free and frank discussion and suggestions from the teachers to be taken into account as far as practical.

Those getting the award get a feeling that other teachers are not too happy about it. Subtle and not so subtle comments follow: “Oh, Ms A got the award. So she is outstanding as per the management. Let her take more responsibility and work more.” Hence Ms A could face some sort of hostility from fellow teachers at least in the beginning. She could be isolated and has to listen to barbs and sarcastic comments from others because of jealousy and prejudice. That is hardly a motivation for others to emulate the ‘outstanding’ teacher. Some teachers would prefer to be ‘faceless in the crowd’ rather than be singled out for any award. This is reality and it is difficult to motivate teachers for better performance by having an award scheme, which could prove to be counter-productive.

Perhaps a more open and transparent scheme could work to reward deserving teachers, by enlisting the services of outside experts, which could prove to be a strong motivation for others to aim for better performance. The well being of the students should be kept in mind when a teacher award is instituted. This improved performance of teachers could help students to improve their own standards through better inputs by teachers who are charged up to fulfill the needs of the students.