TEACHERS ALSO NEED TO DEMONSTRATE DISCIPLINE

Jan 27, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Schools are sometimes places where violence takes place, both physical and mental and the principal culprits in perpetuating this violence are teachers.
Obviously not all teachers are guilty of this practice but many are and the time has come for them to be brought to book for the harm they inflict on our children.
Parents also must share some blame for this violence against our kids. Make no mistake about it, Guyana has inherited an education system which makes children victims, and this state-of-affairs is being encouraged by parents who see no problem with teachers inflicting punishment of their kids and who are allowed to verbally abuse the children in the classroom.
A recent incident may bring an end to this state of affairs providing that the Ministry of Education takes a serious stand. However, it seems already like the Ministry is “ softening-out” on this issue with one top official being reported as saying that she does not want the teacher who it is alleged beat a child so bad that it left brands on the child’s buttocks, dismissed. Yes, after this alleged brutal assault that will traumatize this child for a long time, there is compassion being shown to the teacher.
It is good that compassion is being shown. But how many teachers show compassion to their students? How many of them are quick to flog children or shout at them or shame them because of some wrong that they did. The teachers have the power and they do not hesitate to use that power.
There are cases in which children were in such mortal fear of being flogged in school or being insulted by a teacher that they found excuses not to go to school and in some cases even pleaded with their parents to send them to another school. Not knowing that throughout the education system in Guyana, the power of the teacher is unquestioned.
It is therefore hoped that this present incident in which brutality was meted out to a child will become a turning point in the way power is exercised in schools, regardless of what happens to teachers.
The excuse is often made that some of the teachers do not know better because they too as children, suffered the same brutality and came from an environment where it was felt that children needed to feel pain in order to correct their bad habits. In other words, “if you cannot hear, you are going to feel.”
However, that attitude is long outdated and if there are teachers within the education system that still harbour such views, they need to be removed from the system forthwith because such views are not relevant to today’s world.
In any event, there can be no excuse for teachers flogging children. The Ministry of Education has long established that flogging of children has to be done by the head of the school. The teachers have had enough time to familiarize themselves with these new rules and there can be no excuse for its violation.
The Education Ministry therefore cannot excuse or seek to reduce the seriousness of the violations of its own laid down practices by arguing that it does not wish to see the teachers dismissed. The Teaching Service Commission cannot also be lenient when it comes to brutality, nor should the police. Teachers do not have authority to beat children in school and therefore any flogging of students in schools can legitimately be enquired into by the police.
It is high time that the power of teachers in schools be mediated. They have a duty to impose discipline but not at the price of abuse be it verbal, physical or mental. They have to respect their students if they expect respect in return.
There are laid down procedures to deal with certain situations and if these procedures are breached and teachers take unauthorized action which results in violence against the children, they should be dealt with condignly. If a teacher cannot conform to laid down procedures, how different is this to a student not following the rules or doing what he or she is told? The teacher who cannot follow procedures is just as guilty as the child who behaves badly in school.
Discipline must not only be for students. It must also apply to teachers and when they are indisciplined, including criminally indisciplined, they should be punished just as how students face sanctions for doing what they are not supposed to do.
Many parents however know about the abuse of power by teachers and school administrators but refuse do anything about it because they are fearful that their children will suffer victimization.
In the present case therefore before the Ministry, there is nothing wrong with the Ministry being considerate to the teacher once a mistake has been admitted to. But the Ministry also has to accept the fact that it is time that the power of teachers be moderated and it is time that something be done to encourage parents to speak out against the violence that is meted out to their children at school.
That violence is not just from their peers but also from those who exercise power over the children.

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