Changing Teacher–Student Relationships: A call for moral reawakening

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13 Nov 2025

SUBZAR AHMAD RESHI The contemporary educational landscape reveals a distressing moral and behavioural decline among students. Teachers today increasingly confront classrooms where respect, discipline, and receptivity—once the hallmarks of learning—have been supplanted by indifference and resistance. This article examines the underlying causes of this erosion in the teacher–student relationship, focusing on social upbringing, digital addiction, and the commercialization of education through tuition centres. It further calls for a collective moral reawakening that re-establishes education as a process of ethical cultivation, not merely intellectual attainment. Unless the moral and human dimensions of learning are consciously restored, society risks nurturing a generation that is academically accomplished yet morally adrift. The Changing Ethos of the Classroom A striking transformation has occurred within the modern classroom. Teachers, once revered as moral guides and intellectual mentors, now often find themselves reduced to mere facilitators of syllabus completion. The contemporary student, increasingly intolerant of correction or moral advice, resists even the most basic pedagogic interventions such as maintaining silence, listening attentively, or showing minimal courtesy. A teacher who reminds students to focus or avoid argumentation risks being met with confrontation, complaint, or indifference. The moral and affective space that once sustained meaningful learning is slowly disintegrating. The Sociocultural and Psychological Roots of Decline This deterioration is not an isolated educational problem but a symptom of broader sociocultural changes. The upbringing of the present generation often lacks the discipline and ethical structure that earlier generations internalized within family and community life. The omnipresence of mobile phones, social media, and late-night digital engagement has created a lifestyle characterized by distraction and emotional fatigue. Constant connectivity has diminished students’ capacity for reflection and respect. The moral order that once governed behaviour both inside and outside the classroom has yielded to a culture of instant gratification and superficial self-expression. Tuition Centres and the Commodification of Education The rapid proliferation of tuition centres has significantly altered the teacher–student dynamic. Once supplementary spaces of academic support, these centres have now become the principal sites of learning for many students. Yet, in their commercial pursuit, they often operate like markets rather than educational institutions. Teachers, conscious of the need to retain students as clients, tend to avoid moral correction or disciplinary intervention. In such a setting, the relationship between teacher and student becomes transactional—based on economic exchange rather than ethical engagement. The result is a generation of learners who equate education with information delivery, not with moral or intellectual formation. Moral Desensitization and the Loss of Respect Respect for teachers—once regarded as a fundamental virtue—has become conditional and fragile. Instances of students remaining engrossed in phone conversations or displaying casual indifference even in a teacher’s presence are no longer rare. Such behaviour, rather than being seen as offensive, is often normalized by peers and tolerated by society. This normalization signals not only a decline in manners but a deeper moral paralysis. When moral sensitivity erodes in the microcosm of the classroom, it eventually manifests in the macrocosm of society. The moral fibre of a community is inevitably weakened when its youth lose reverence for learning and those who impart it. The Need for Collective Responsibility The moral rehabilitation of education cannot rest solely upon teachers, who already operate within constrained institutional settings. Parents, tuition centres, and society at large must share responsibility for nurturing ethical awareness. Tuition centres, now central to the teaching–learning process, must transcend their commercial orientation and consciously integrate moral and civic instruction into their pedagogic framework. Parents must reinforce at home the values of humility, responsibility, and respect. Educational institutions, meanwhile, must ensure that moral and value-based education is not treated as an ornamental add-on but as an integral component of the curriculum. Education as Moral Formation True education extends beyond intellectual enlightenment; it refines the conscience, cultivates empathy, and strengthens moral character. The current crisis in the teacher–student relationship represents not only a pedagogical failure but a moral one. If we continue to neglect the ethical dimensions of learning, we risk producing a generation proficient in knowledge yet deficient in humanity. The restoration of respect, humility, and moral responsibility within the educational sphere is therefore not merely desirable—it is essential for the survival of a just and civilized society. (Author is Assistant Professor, Botany; Department of Higher Education)