| Much paper has been wasted over the debate – whether teaching is a 'profession' or not. We may hesitate to call teaching a profession if we judge it with the parameters of the professions like Law or Medicine. Rather teaching is a service to humanity with a mission of moulding the minds of the millions. Teachers are devoted to the noble service of 'making-of-man'. When taken as a profession, teaching reflects a high degree of academic excellence and practical wisdom in one hand and a wellintegrated value-system on the other – both oriented towards altruistic service. Like other professions, therefore, teaching should have a set of ethical codes to follow. As per the recommendations of NPE 1986 and POA 1992, the NCERT had developed the code of ethics for teachers in 1997. To make the RTE Act 2009 a success, as well as to keep up the prestige of their noble profession, teachers should abide by this code. This paper attempts to highlight some areas where the norms as laid down in the code are being flouted and some measures to mend those lapses. |