It hurt to see on TV recently how a male teacher caught on the school CCTV dragged a five-year-old girl out of the classroom and taking cover of a tall bush, slapped her soft face repeatedly. Then clasping her hand, as if nothing had happened, he took her back to the class. Can we imagine the imprint on the child’s mind, her hatred for teachers and schooling, the incident would have left?
In 2012, I was waiting to chair a meeting of the school management committee of a government primary school. My eyes fell on a young woman teacher in the next classroom brutally hitting a girl who, sitting on the floor, barely reached 10 inches up. Horrified, I screamed at her.
“How dare you beat the baby?”
“She’s not listening to me!”
“Listening? Look at her age,” I was livid. “Since you don’t know corporal punishment is banned, I’m going to report you.”
She started apologising, but I did not spare her. No teacher ever beat a student in the school as long as I was there.
There could be many reasons for teachers to hit students. The first is personal frustration with life, relationships or even some kind of mental illness. The second is they are bad at teaching and cannot engage students, are ill-read, and knowing their failures, turn their anger on the student. The third is their lack of love for the profession and for students.
The fourth is they were thrashed by their teachers or parents; so they think there is nothing wrong with hurting students to compel obedience. A fifth probability is unchecked display of power on the hapless student.
This happens in colleges too where students are shamed for not understanding a concept!
Malpractice and sexual harassment are also being reported across educational institutions.
Rampant abuse
A huge majority of marginalised students are subject to corporal punishment and most parents are okay with it. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. A student had shaved his hair on one side for fashion. The principal called him to her room and loudly complained to his mother in the presence of many people sitting there. The mother, taking the cue, took off her slipper and hammered the 15-year-old mercilessly.
Generally, these incidents do not happen in rich schools where educators fear well-placed parents will file an FIR.
A press article recently asked why teachers were not getting respected, and argued for restoring respect to teachers. But who can respect teachers who are bullies and bad at teaching and exploit vulnerable students? Whether it is teachers or anyone else, respect cannot be demanded; it has to be earned the hard way.
Many thought leaders — vice-chancellors, scientists, artists, CEOs, professors — of today can share heart-warming stories about their favourite teachers, years after they had ceased to teach them.
The common thread will be: “Our teachers turned our lives around in unimaginable ways with the gentlest correction, knowledge and unconditional love. We’re what they made of us!”
These were teachers who joyfully hand-held their students and shaped them.
Even today, there are teachers who win respect from everybody beyond school and college, for an eternity.
Teachers’ Day was started by President Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, once a teacher himself, in 1962 to honour teachers, but somewhere we have forfeited the right.
A change in public perception towards all teachers calls for character combined with excellence in every school, college and university educator in the country. Teachers must toil to retrieve the lofty social stature that Dr. Radhakrishnan had conferred on them.
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