“If you beat me, my mum will kill you.”
If you are a teacher, you may have
already heard or are likely to hear an aforementioned remark. One of my
colleagues once was astounded at the remark of a student in class.
I find myself in a sea of wonders
and in a complete whirl. Are our students forgetting the real meaning of a
school and a teacher? When I was back in a school, a school was understood to
be a temple of learning and teaching and teachers to be a burning candle.
Teachers were put at par with God. On the contrary, a school nowadays has been
a dating spot for couples, a ring for quarrelsome pupils and a gossip venue for
some teachers.
Infatuation has been one of the
rising issues, and discipline a thing of the past and lack of it has only
increased the woes of the teachers as well as the school administration.
One of the underlying problems for
disciplinary problem is the defiant attitude the students have developed due to
the backing of their parents. A parent coming to school to accuse and argue
with the school staff is one of the commonest happenings that can be seen in
any school office. Often these accusations and arguments take an ugly turn and
the school authorities confront with parents’ threats of calling the media to
tarnish institution’s image. So it is better to avoid confrontations being
tolerant. Once upon a time, fear of corporal punishment was the only effective
technique for discipline maintenance, but today the table has been turned. Now
it is not students but teachers have to fear students.
At the cutting edge of science and
technology, students cannot be deprived of its usage. No matter how often
students are warned they turn their deaf ears to it. If students are penalized
at the minimum level, parents hasten to create a row over it yet expect their
ward/s to perform well in academics and extra-curricular activities. In
addition, some students lay emphasis on love letters and pairing a boy off with
a girl. They relate their life with a film’s story which doesn’t last more than
three hours on a screen.
All sorts of pressure are placed on
the teachers and the school authorities to promote the student, and if you do
not succumb to this pressure, you are subject to dire consequences. Today the
student is very well aware of the fact s/he will not be meted out any forms of
physical punishment. Teachers are obligated to abide by rules, whereas parents
forget their responsibilities for their wards’ overall development.
Today the classrooms hold only ten
percent of scholars. The balance ninety percent are only present in class
because they have to be there. They are only existing and contributing to the
category for unwilling learners. Parents should have a clear conscience that
their blind belief and backing to their offspring is only bringing the axe down
on their own feet.
Amar Bahadur Sherma, a Secondary Level English Teacher at GEMS, published on 16 July, 2014, The
Himalayan Times
