Teaching students, not subjects  What should teachers do at schools; teach students or subjects? Teaching subjects is one thing; teaching students another. It is on two key requirements that effective teaching - learning activity rests --  efficient teachers and motivated students. However, this activity proves  for a sympathetic and devoted teacher confronting demotivation from the students a tragic experience.  Pure, passionate and potential-rich teachers certainly overcome the demotivation of students.  And make them for classroom activities very receptive. Psychologists, educationists and thinkers opine that motivating students is essential for learning by them, underscoring its significance for  successful and meaningful teaching -learning activities. Put simply, good learning is literally unless students  pay attention impossible . Motivation makes individuals more likely to invest time and energy into learning activities. Benjamin Franklin has said , “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”  This author's  twenty - year experience in the teaching field is witness to the fact that readiness for learning -- by students-- is a prerequisite. For effective teaching. Willing students focus  and cooperate. This climate makes classroom activities progress smoothly and achieve the best results for the teacher and students. Unwilling for learning,  learners make the classroom performance of a teacher unhealthy and unproductive. Also , it emotionally hurts a teacher of conscience. In his poem , " The last lesson of the afternoon", by D. H .  Lawrence, the teacher feels compelled to sit and wait for the bell :  the hounds, his students, were unwilling to hunt the prey, learn. This frustrates the poet , forcing him to just wait for the bell so that he walks off. Arguably, it was the last lesson of the afternoon when interest for studies mostly remained very low . But the years of experience substantially prove that unmotivated and unwilling students are just like the hounds in Lawrence 's case. The timing of teaching on a day does impact one's learning interest . Learners mostly show signs of demotivation right from the first lesson of a day, a  situation resulting from multiple factors , it must be admitted. Social, cultural, school , academic and family atmosphere -- these all play a useful hand in making students willing or unwilling for studies. The fact is that attention of students is imperative for learning a lesson. But when not ready and interested , students are very difficult to control which reduces classwork to a boring and dull exercise . Worse, the situation at times becomes unmanageable and a source of disillusionment for a well-intentioned teacher. Physical/verbal punishment-- standing unlawful with respect to formal education-- do not pay ultimately to discipline inattentive or problem- making students; nor are they the permanent mechanism to address the challenge. Notably, imposing knowledge upon unwilling students hardly works: it does not take into account a student's level of intelligence, age, previous knowledge of a lesson, social needs, academic needs , classroom context  and aims of the lesson. True, such a situation exhausts a teacher while the communication ends in smoke. Worse, learning goals remain unmet and formal schooling ends up as an attendance - recording exercise and syllabus - finishing race. Pertinently, coaching culture plays a major role in demotivating secondary level students for formal education at schools. When a student has learnt a lesson or is going to learn at a coaching centre, she/he comes up with little interest in learning the same lesson at school. 90% secondary students attend coaching centres before or after school. Since coaching culture for academic classes suggests that all is not well with school - level academics, it is safe to say that the scenario can be reversed if teachers improve themselves regardless of the facilities available at schools.  Undeniable, adequate infrastructure and compassionate administration are vital for  successful and productive academic achievements at schools. A demotivated teacher whose major priorities are other than teaching can never be a source of motivation  for students. Teaching is a means and learning by students an end; teaching  at schools is not a means to become leaders, lobbyists and traders. This situation badly hits the academic climate of a school at the expense of honest teaching and proves a strong factor in  enrolment decline. Good news is there are several teachers whose priority is  nothing other than teaching ; such teachers, however, become victims of groupism, lobbyism and favouritism - both at schools and to an extent in administrative circles. Teaching never attains its noble goals if students are not willing to receive a subject matter. To motivate students for  their efficient learning, certain steps are necessary : one, a teacher must know the subject matter well . Two, a teacher her/himself must be stress-free and well-motivated to deliver the subject matter. Three, a teacher must be in know of students' needs, the subject aims, the classroom situation and the attention span of students. Lastly, a teacher must know that learning by students is the primary goal of schooling, not subject/syllabus finishing. To sum up, it is worthwhile to point out that teaching must aim at the students' learning rather than become a subject- finishing exercise. When students learn well ,  schools become a seat of discipline , producing responsible and faithful citizens. In contrast , simply teaching a subject, not students,  is an open invitation to darkness and hopelessness. Teachers can ignite motivation in the classroom by creating an engaging environment. Rewarding effort and good behaviour birth motivation. Learning improves thus. Undeniably.   (Author is RK columnist and teacher by profession. Feedback: sheikhshabir518@gmail.com)