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.
