Oh Lord ! Bless Us, Be Kind!

It' a Monday morning though

Things are altogether tough

Streets are barren and silent

Did the nature go violent?

No children out in play

No people on their way

No horns of vehicles heard

Which used to be so hard.

Everyone thinks, “Is it my turn next?”

Prays, "Save me from this net".

Wash your hands is what all say

Now that's the only hopeful ray.

When will we back from this?

No one has an answer to this

Oh Lord ! Bless Us, Be Kind,

Be Merciful, Give us a strong Mind.

-          By Smt. Sheeja Nellayappan

Principal shot dead by a student; where do we proceed?

You might have come across the shocking news of a school Principal at Haryana shot dead by her own class 12 student inside her office room on 20^th January 2018. The sad news brought shivering in my blood cells and I am unable to comprehend the gravity of the sense of fear this incident may instill in the minds of the teaching community. I do understand that isolated incidents cannot be considered as generalized affairs of a community. But we need to accept that the ripples of conflicts between teachers and students occupying headlines in the media become more frequent than ever.

As per media reports the boy had a grudge against his principal for punishing him few times over his poor performance and low attendance in front of his class mates. He was earlier warned thrice that he won’t be able to write his pre-board examination because of low attendance. On the fateful day he went to the office room of the Principal who also taught economics to him and asked her to accept his project report. He allegedly opened fire when the principal refused to accept the report.

In my opinion, his parents are the primary reason behind the gruesome incident. It is reported that the boy broke open an almirah in his home and took the registered revolver of his businessman father. The father told police that he didn’t know anything about his son’s performance in school. How will he know? Today many parents neglect their primary duties of parenting and even they do not have time to listen to their children. Today’s children are exposed to too much of unregulated media and more shockingly many of the parents never know that most of the online games their children play in mobiles and computers gradually instill sense of violence in the minds of the young children. When parents tend to substitute money for love and parental care, what else can be expected from the children?

The School Management and the Teachers of the school also are equally responsible for the tragic incident. The violent and cruel behavior exhibited by the student might have not been developed in a day or weeks. The violent characters might have been exhibited by him in many occasions from the childhood and unfortunately no one had time to take remedial measures before it reaches the critical stage. Just imagine how the boy who had resorted to murdering his Principal who enforced the rules of the institution might have behaved with his fellow classmates. 

 

Handling today’s children is not an easy task. Today’s economically oriented nuclear families have changed the entire concept of life. Attitudes of everyone in the society have changed and children too are not exempted. Unfortunately majority of the Teachers and Head of Institutions are poorly equipped to handle the challenges faced by today’s Education sector. In the present case when the boy was asked why he shot the principal, he said “she tortured me”. I am sad to say that this is a consequence of our failure to train the Teachers and the Head of Institutions in Positive Discipline techniques. Moreover, educating parents about their duties and responsibilities also now becomes the responsibility of schools and we have completely neglected this aspect.

Both the Private sector and the Govt. sector should immediately initiate steps to train all the Teachers and Head of Institutions on the latest trends and strategies in dealing with students before another such unfortunate incident occurs. Expenditures made in these training programmes are investments made on the future of our country and I hope the school managements would not hesitate to empower their teachers for a better tomorrow.

Time to Educate the Educators

Educational institutions throughout our country now pass through a critical phase in their journey of educating children. Ripples of conflicts between teachers and students occupying headlines in the media become more frequent than ever and many people get confused to understand the facts behind the conflicts. The teachers’ community pleads helplessness while the public criticize the teachers for the untoward incidents.

Recently the news of group suicide of four adolescent girls of a school in Tamilnadu shattered the minds of many educationists in our country and it was revealed during the investigation that many students from that school have suicidal tendencies. As expected, police have arrested a teacher and the head of the institution on charges of abetting suicide and the case is closed without going in to the roots of the issues. We mostly tends to give temporary relieves to diseases without treating the cause of the disease and the same thing happens in this case as well. I have been coming across demoralizing messages circulated among teachers’ community after few such incidents and I am afraid that this may lead to far reaching consequences. In fact this issue is a multidimensional one that needs to be analyzed in depth by all stake holders of school education.

Today we live in a society where majority of its members no more consider moral values as an essential factor to lead a successful life. The nuclear families we have today do not practically teach our children about the concepts of sharing and tolerance. Excessive caring parents immediately satisfy even the unnecessary needs of the children and they seldom get opportunities to learn that disappointments are essential parts of practical life. Many parents even substitute money for love and parental care. Children are exposed to too much of unregulated media and more shockingly many of the parents never know that most of the online games their children play in mobiles and computers gradually instill sense of violence in the minds of the young children. Above all many parents neglect their primary duties of parenting and even they do not have time to listen to their children.                      

Handling today’s techno savvy children is not an easy task. Attitudes of everyone in the society have changed and children too are not exempted. Unfortunately majority of our teachers are not equipped to deal with students in the present scenario. They tend to practice the same ways and means with which they were treated by their teachers. I was subjected to corporal punishment many a times during my student life at school but till today I remember all my teachers with love and gratitude only. But, now I cannot justify imposing corporal punishment on students because time has changed everything. Let us not forget that on those days’ parents and elders were imposing corporal punishment at home and we accepted the same as normal practice at school. But, today’s economically oriented nuclear families have changed the entire concept of life.  So, equipping teachers with modern techniques to face the challenges of today’s teaching career is very much essential at this juncture.

To be honest most of today’s teachers are in a pitiful situation. Everyone needs results; the corporate private school managements need results to multiply their admissions and admission fee, the Govt. sector need results to prove that their officers discharge their duties sincerely and almost every parent wants their sons and daughters to become doctors and technocrats.  It is completely forgotten that Education is a journey and not a race. Here most of the students are forced to run in the race blindfolded, without taking their interest and attitudes in to consideration. Ultimately, the teachers are made to behave like animal trainers.

Few months back I attended a 3 days training programme on Prevention of Child Abuse organized by the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, Guwahati and also a 3 days National Conference on Education organized by the Don Bosco Institute , Guwahti. I had the privilege of learning lot of new aspects of teaching learning from few of the finest brains in the industry and both the programmes made me to realize that majority of us (Teachers and Head of Institutions) are poorly equipped to handle the challenges face by today’s Education sector. Most of the conflicts between teachers and students arise in schools because teachers are not trained in Positive Discipline techniques and they tend to employ the out dated correction techniques. Moreover, educating parents about their duties and responsibilities also now becomes the responsibility of schools and we have completely neglected this aspect. I intensely feel that both the Private sector and the Govt. sector should immediately initiate steps to train all the Teachers and Head of Institutions on the latest trends and strategies in dealing with students before the commencement of the new academic sessions. Expenditures made in these training programmes are investments made on the future of our country and I hope school managements would not hesitate to empower their teachers without further delay.

A Teacher’s thoughts on Teachers’ Day

Today our nation celebrates Teachers’ Day with pride and on this auspicious day I convey my sincere greetings to all the dedicated teachers who strive hard to uplift the life of students through their tireless devotion to duty. Teachers are called the builders of nation and the prosperity and culture of a nation reflects the attitude and the way of functioning of its teachers.  Even though majority of the educational institutions in our country do not have the state of the art infrastructure and human resources as available in the developed countries, professionals from our country are occupying respectable key positions in various prestigious organizations throughout the world and the achievements made by our country in the fields of Medicine, Science & Technology etc makes our country as an emerging super power in the world. This would not have been made possible without the dedicated contributions of teachers in all levels. Next to parents, teachers might be the only one who always looks at the progress of their children with pride and not with jealousy. Teachers always share the success stories of their students with pride to others and rarely one may come across teachers sharing the shortcomings of their students with others.

Unfortunately most of the teachers in our country are underpaid and do not get recognized for their selfless services. Many leaders greet teachers on Teachers’ Day and most of them conveniently forget it from the very next day. They not only forget about the teachers but also about the impact this selective memory would have on the society. Majority of us send our children to private schools as we want quality education for our children but we seldom think about the miserable life of the underpaid and ill-treated private school teachers who contribute their best towards the wellbeing of their students in spite of the hardships they face. I sincerely pray that leaders and officers who are in the position of brining changes in the life of people stop the practice of turning blind eye to these helpless private school teachers and exercise  their authority to ensure a decent life to them.

The lives of Govt. school teachers are also not free from struggles. Various agitations and demonstrations being held by sections of Govt. school teachers  time to time exhibits the state of affairs existing in the Govt. sector. What pride do we have when a section of our teachers are not paid continuously for many months? Analyzing about issues concerned with Centre-State share is not the duty of teachers; all they need is timely release of their salaries so that their family members need not suffer in starvation. Another distressing fact about Govt. school teachers is subjecting them to mental torture by depriving them of their genuine service benefits. Every Govt. servant is entitled to certain service benefits and forcing them to land at the corridors of Courts for getting justice is not expected to happen in the education department which is supposed to serve as a model department to others.            

   

Now, let me come to the other side of the coin. When we happily accept the pride of being called as the builders of nation, we must also accept responsibility for the anarchies prevailing in our society. Incidents of persons having authority behaving in arrogant manner could be witnessed in many offices in our country. Majority of Govt. employees develops a feeling that they are the masters of public and never realize that they are appointed to serve the public. Where from these people acquired this mindset?  I would say that we inherit these characteristics from our parents and teachers from childhood onwards. Many teachers instill fear psychosis in the minds of children and never allow freedom of expression in class rooms. Students are forced to write only the answers given by the teachers, creative ideas and answers are mostly discouraged, Questioning is never encouraged and even those raising questions are branded as rebels. All these acts gradually inculcate the characteristics of authoritarian approach in us and we exhibit them when power comes to our hands.

Every one of us talks about having a corruption free society and many organizations have been sphere Today our nation celebrates Teachers’ Day with pride and on this auspicious day I convey my sincere greetings to all the dedicated teachers who strive hard to uplift the life of students through their tireless devotion to duty. Teachers are called the builders of nation and the prosperity and culture of a nation reflects the attitude and the way of functioning of its teachers.  Even though majority of the educational institutions in our country do not have the state of the art infrastructure and human resources as available in the developed countries, professionals from our country are occupying respectable key positions in various prestigious organizations throughout the world and the achievements made by our country in the fields of Medicine, Science & Technology etc makes our country as an emerging super power in the world. This would not have been made possible without the dedicated contributions of teachers in all levels. Next to parents, teachers might be the only one who always looks at the progress of their children with pride and not with jealousy. Teachers always share the success stories of their students with pride to others and rarely one may come across teachers sharing the shortcomings of their students with others.

Unfortunately most of the teachers in our country are underpaid and do not get recognized for their selfless services. Many leaders greet teachers on Teachers’ Day and most of them conveniently forget it from the very next day. They not only forget about the teachers but also about the impact this selective memory would have on the society. Majority of us send our children to private schools as we want quality education for our children but we seldom think about the miserable life of the underpaid and ill-treated private school teachers who contribute their best towards the wellbeing of their students in spite of the hardships they face. I sincerely pray that leaders and officers who are in the position of brining changes in the life of people stop the practice of turning blind eye to these helpless private school teachers and exercise  their authority to ensure a decent life to them.

The lives of Govt. school teachers are also not free from struggles. Various agitations and demonstrations being held by sections of Govt. school teachers  time to time exhibits the state of affairs existing in the Govt. sector. What pride do we have when a section of our teachers are not paid continuously for many months? Analyzing about issues concerned with Centre-State share is not the duty of teachers; all they need is timely release of their salaries so that their family members need not suffer in starvation. Another distressing fact about Govt. school teachers is subjecting them to mental torture by depriving them of their genuine service benefits. Every Govt. servant is entitled to certain service benefits and forcing them to land at the corridors of Courts for getting justice is not expected to happen in the education department which is supposed to serve as a model department to others.            

Now, let me come to the other side of the coin. When we happily accept the pride of being called as the builders of nation, we must also accept responsibility for the anarchies prevailing in our society. Incidents of persons having authority behaving in arrogant manner could be witnessed in many offices in our country. Majority of Govt. employees develops a feeling that they are the masters of public and never realize that they are appointed to serve the public. Where from these people acquired this mindset?  I would say that we inherit these characteristics from our parents and teachers from childhood onwards. Many teachers instill fear psychosis in the minds of children and never allow freedom of expression in class rooms. Students are forced to write only the answers given by the teachers, creative ideas and answers are mostly discouraged, Questioning is never encouraged and even those raising questions are branded as rebels. All these acts gradually inculcate the characteristics of authoritarian approach in us and we exhibit them when power comes to our hands.

Every one of us talks about having a corruption free society and many organizations have been sphere heading towards achieving this. In my opinion such sanitization processes should begin from the schools. A school is a miniature society and most of the characteristics and habits in a person’s life are formed during the school days. Are we in a position to say honestly that we as teachers exhibit a model life to them? What habits will children learn from teachers who keep proxies and indulge in practices of absenteeism? What characteristics will they learn from the functioning of Govt. schools whose average daily working hours and average yearly working days are far less than those of private schools?

Teachers are expected to treat their students the same way they treat their own children. But the reality we witness seems to be different. A recent study conducted in a south Indian State reveals that at the Primary & Middle School level 73 % children of Govt. School teachers study at private schools and that at High & Higher Secondary level is 87%. This clearly shows that we want our own children get quality education from the private schools as we do not have trust in the quality of education being provided in the Govt. schools. I am sure that not even 1% of children of bureaucrats and higher officials will be studying in Govt. schools in any of the States.

The world now passes through a very difficult phase and the responsibility of teachers thus has increased many folds. Children are exposed to too much of electronic media and the expansion of knowledge goes at very high rate. The dangers of misusing technology also increase with these developments. Teachers have equal responsibility as that of parents in protecting children from the evil clutches of antisocial elements. Teachers thus should keep themselves updated with the latest developments and should lead their students towards growth. On this auspicious day I earnestly request all the teachers to teach their students with love and dedication and at the same time request my beloved students to learn with love and regards for your teachers.heading towards achieving this. In my opinion such sanitization processes should begin from the schools. A school is a miniature society and most of the characteristics and habits in a person’s life are formed during the school days. Are we in a position to say honestly that we as teachers exhibit a model life to them? What habits will children learn from teachers who keep proxies and indulge in practices of absenteeism? What characteristics will they learn from the functioning of Govt. schools whose average daily working hours and average yearly working days are far less than those of private schools?

Teachers are expected to treat their students the same way they treat their own children. But the reality we witness seems to be different. A recent study conducted in a south Indian State reveals that at the Primary & Middle School level 73 % children of Govt. School teachers study at private schools and that at High & Higher Secondary level is 87%. This clearly shows that we want our own children get quality education from the private schools as we do not have trust in the quality of education being provided in the Govt. schools. I am sure that not even 1% of children of bureaucrats and higher officials will be studying in Govt. schools in any of the States.

The world now passes through a very difficult phase and the responsibility of teachers thus has increased many folds. Children are exposed to too much of electronic media and the expansion of knowledge goes at very high rate. The dangers of misusing technology also increase with these developments. Teachers have equal responsibility as that of parents in protecting children from the evil clutches of antisocial elements. Teachers thus should keep themselves updated with the latest developments and should lead their students towards growth. On this auspicious day I earnestly request all the teachers to teach their students with love and dedication and at the same time request my beloved students to learn with love and regards for your teachers.

An employee’s views on Demonetization

At the outset let me make one thing clear here. I am not writing this from the prospective of an economist or a political analyst. I am simply sharing my own experiences as a common man of this country. The demonetization move made by the Prime Minister has brought almost all the political rivals our country together and all of a sudden made them to realize the hardships faced by the public. It is true that public are put to face hardships and even the country has witnessed few unfortunate deaths because of demonetization. At the same time we should not forget that many of those deaths occurred due to inhuman acts of few organizations and individuals. Govt. has given enough time to make deposits in bank accounts and private hospitals and other essential service providers allowing people to die at the emergency situation was fully unethical.

Many people accept demonetization as a good measure but blame the Govt. for the poor preparedness. The present move of demonetization is a war on black money and utmost secrecy was required. Any hint leaked out to the corrupt officers would have jeopardized the very basic intention of the act. We all know that today many corrupt bureaucrats are guiding the politicians in corrupt practices. The number of Vigilance Enquiries going on against senior officers in our country will make it clear in what dangerous situation our country is. Just go through an official report given by the Govt. of India in 2013.

“ As per information provided by the CBI, 65 cases (RCs & PEs) are pending under investigation/enquiries against 19 IAS, 01 IPS & 67 other Allied Central services personnel as on 31.10.2013. Besides the above, 180 cases are pending under trial against 154 IAS, 15 IPS & 102 other Allied Central services personnel. 24 IAS, 07 IPS & 16 other Allied Central services personnel have been convicted during the last three years i.e. 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013 (upto 31.10.2013). ”

Do you think the Govt. could make a perfect plane to avoid inconveniences to the people when such type of people runs the day to day affairs of the Govt.? The inconveniences and hardships faced due to poor preparations of the Govt. were unavoidable as the entire plane was kept within very few at the top level of the Govt.

People ask about nearly one hundred deaths occurred due to demonetization. Why do we forget about thousands and thousands of farmers committing suicides and at the same time the rulers of the states constructing 1 lakh sq feet homes spending more than 38 crores and undertaking foreign trips in charted flights? Should we forget about ministers responsible to look after the famers were busy with looking after Cricket affairs when thousands of farmers were committing suicide? Should we forget about the number of poor people killed by the WB police while trying to acquire land for a private concern during the Communist regime? The present WB Chief Minister is too much worried about the inconveniences caused by the people standing in ATM ques. Does she remember the number of Bandhs she called during her political career and about the sufferings faced my lakhs and lakhs of long distance train commuters because her bandh calls?           

Let me now come to few issue related to of black money and the common man. There are nearly 184 Private medical colleges in India and each college has an average intake of 100 seats. So there are nearly 18400 MBBS seats are at the desecration of the managements. I personally know that the rate of one MBBS seat in a particular medical college at Chennai is 80 lakhs and the minimum rate at many other colleges is 50 – 60 lakhs. Not single rupees of this capitation fee are accountable; neither at the receiving end nor at the giving end. Do you think a person spending such huge amount of money for his education will do social service when he comes to practice? He will definitely recover the amount with interest from the common man by prescribing Ultra Scan, Doppler Scan etc for common headache and also performing unnecessary surgeries. The above is only about Medical Colleges. You can think of the same about other types of higher institutions as well.     

Majority of the private educational institutions, hospitals, business establishments etc  in our country maintain multiple account books and software’s. One for the customers and one for the Govt. Few years back I visited a medical specialist in Chennai. He charged Rs.1000/-(one thousand) as consultation fee’ but No receipts & No records. He sees nearly 30 to 60 patients in a day. Just calculate his unaccounted income. The worst part in the above case is that those serving in the above organizations are always underpaid and treated as slaves. Another issue in this aspect is private institutions paying less than half of the amount to the employees they show as salary to the Govt. The helpless employees simply obey their masters and sign at the dotted lines. Now the employees can no more do it because they will have to be accountable to the Govt once the entire money transactions comes under scrutiny. How will an employee pay tax for the amount he doesn’t receive?      

I am not saying that demonetization will completely wipe out black money. But Our PM has made it clear that basic idea behind the Govt.’s move is to bring the entire money flow accountable. I am confident that digital money will solve many such issues. We could feel the change in the life of people when that takes place. Govt. has nothing against those earning legally and paying taxes honestly. So I don’t think there is a need for the common man to get panic. We are enjoying the fruits of sacrifices made by millions of patriotic people but unfortunately we have become too much self-centered. We do not wish to think beyond our today’s life. Let us be ready to do few sacrifices for the betterment of our future generation.