It is believed that without character, learning is zero, and without Learning, character is also zero. Both are dependent on each other.
This acronym, ASLING, should serve as a moral guide for every teacher.
A – Accountability: Teaching is a herculean task. Teaching children from different backgrounds is not a tea party. While some elevate their teachers, many others frustrate their teachers’ efforts. And the principle of accountability stipulates that the teacher is responsible for their students’ academic performance, whether good or bad. This is a moral guide for teachers that we should try our best at all times to make sure that the students receive quality education from us.
S – Service: Teaching is a social selfless service. It is not really about money. That does not ipso facto mean that teachers should live a poor condition. The service here implies that money should not be the main focus of a teacher’s pedagogic enterprise.
L – Lifelong Learning: A teacher is expected to teach a child to educate themselves. The child should be taught to continue from where the teacher stops. The concept of yesterday was not the same as today’s concept. So, both the teacher and the learner must continue to learn new things. To be relevant on the job, teachers must belong to professional bodies, do professional courses and get certified with a professional body (TRCN).
I – Integrity: Teachers are agents of morality. So, they must always exhibit morality in their actions and discharge of duties. Teachers should be bound by their words. They should not promise what they are incapable of doing. It is sheer dishonesty to recommend after-school lesson for a child that does not really need it just because of money. A Yorùbá Studies teacher should not take chemistry lesson. It is OWÓ ÈPÈ.
G – Faith in God: Teachers need to be prayerful so that all efforts will not end in the abyss of futility.
