Teachers’ authority, which I argue is a multidimensional concept, is undergoing transition under the current educational policy changes in India. These changes that are a result of economic, political and civil society intervention are changing the way education and its aims are being perceived within the country. Whereas some of these changes are reflected in a shift from the traditional authority of teachers that was expressed in archaic practices like corporal punishment, there are other changes which, on the one hand neglect the cultural-social position of the teachers with roots in religious practices of the country, while on the other hand impose a child-centered notion of the teacher as a facilitator. This neglect is articulated in the voices and actions of the teachers in the various interviews conducted among Social Science teachers in Government schools in India. At the same time, the imposition of a facilitating role on teachers is ill suited to the current educational context in schools, given the availability of cell phones and other technologies to students. In such a scenario, the teachers’ authority has not been reduced but rather finds a renewed focus and importance. Dispensing with traditional notions of authority has resulted in discontent and loss of faith among teachers towards new policies, which fail to acknowledge teachers’ voices. Thus, in the current transitional phase where new policies have successfully initiated an alternative discourse of education, i.e. moving away from examoriented education, reducing teachers to facilitators is unhelpful due to the social realities that teachers face, highlighting the need for some form of teacher's authority
