India, Sept. 8 -- 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 ...