PARENTS AND TEACHERS COULD EASILY RELATE TO EACH OTHER WITH CORDIALITY

Feb 05, 2023 Consumer Concerns, News

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CONSUMER CONCERNS…

PAT DIAL

Kaieteur News – Recently, there were reports in the media of teachers being physically assaulted in two primary schools and verbally threatened in a secondary school.  The primaries were Graham’s Hall and St. Angela’s and the secondary school was Queen’s College.  The staff of the three schools immediately decided to act in solidarity with the allegedly hurt teachers and the Guyana Teachers Association recommended its members wear black clothing in sympathy with the aggrieved teachers.

The Chief Education Officer, after the St. Angela’s incident, added his condemnation: “Whatever the circumstances, it is a reprehensible and ghastly act.  It is unacceptable and will not be condoned in the least…when parents and guardians are engaged in violent acts against teachers, it goes against established values, norms and expectations…the Ministry will take all appropriate actions to ensure teachers continue to work in a safe and secure environment, including prohibiting violent parents and guardians from having access to school premises;   transferring any pupil whose parents commit any act of violence on a teacher;  or any other sanction deemed necessary, while encouraging the Police or any other institution or authority, to take whatever action the Law prescribes”.

In all these incidents, the positions and feelings of all the main actors should be taken into account and considered, so as to arrive at a balanced view.  In these incidents the positions and feelings of the main actors who are the teachers, the head masters or mistresses of the schools, the pupils involved and the parents were not taken into account, before knee-jerk condemnations were made.  In the case of the Queen’s College incident, judging from the media reports, it appears that the teacher involved failed to exercise disciplinary measures in a professional way and this allowed a routine school incident to be blown out of proportion, with  all the actors involved being, against their will, drawn into a whirlpool of discord.

Any student who misbehaves should never be ostracized or ignored. Every trained teacher should know this.  Small children and adolescents are often affected by many issues in their homes and communities that may negatively impact their socialization processes, which may result in them doing poorly in academic work and/or being rebellious.  A professional teacher should recognise such a child and work towards winning his or her confidence, so that the child would open up to him or her.  It should be underscored that a teacher must at all times obey the educational code and refrain from corporally punish a child.

In the case of the St Angela’s incident, the teacher allegedly struck a child with a wooden rule and some flints were lodged in the child’s hand. The parent visited the school and quite wrongfully and illegally assaulted the teacher, opening herself to a criminal charge.  Had the head teacher been able to intervene, the issue could have been diffused and kept within the confines of the school.

Relying on the media reports of the Queen’s College incident:  A boy in the lower school allegedly attempted to bully his female classmate who was the daughter of a prominent citizen and the girl stood up to him.  The form teacher intervened and made the two students apologise to each other.  The girl, regarding herself as the victim, probably felt that the same kind of incident may again occur to her and told her parents of it.  Her father then visited the school to see the head teacher, who, after having kept him waiting, inexplicably did not give him an audience.  The parent visited the school a second time to see the head teacher but instead, saw the form teacher who claimed that the parent threatened her and had to be restrained by a female police constable who was present, from assaulting her.   The staff was then mobilized to support the teacher.  The police constable however affirmed that the parent was quite proper in his conversation and conduct with the teacher and that she never restrained the parent from any kind of assault.  The teacher later withdrew her allegations, but this incident, which was of the nature of a routine class occurrence, having reached the media, made an unprecedented blot on the name of Queen’s College, though we understand the incident has now long been forgotten in the school.

Incidents such as those mentioned above, which seems to be a growing malady, should never occur in the educational system and the adoption of a few simple rules from the colonial school system would achieve this:

First – Etiquette should be taught in every class, and printed cards with the do’s and don’ts should be displayed in every classroom.  In colonial times, such cards had 20 or 25 rules.  Each student should be given a copy of the etiquette card.

Second – Teachers must recognise that they are locus parentum which simply means that while at school teachers stand in the place of parents.  They must accordingly guide, help and understand the psyche of the children in their care, particularly children who may appear to be aggressive, rebellious or academically challenged.  If teachers are untrained or uncertain about how to deal with such children, the help of the head teacher must be sought.

Third – The teacher should never strike a child.  If the child comes from a background where violence is the only sanction, the teacher should privately explain to the child why he or she would never use violence; this could be a positive step in socializing such a child.

Fourth – The teacher should try to establish contact with parents of “difficult” children.  All schools should make greater efforts to have active Parent-Teachers Associations.

Fifth – Teachers and school administrators should always treat children with fairness, since children are acutely aware of fairness and justice, sometimes even more so than adults.

Sixth – Head teachers and teachers in general should treat visiting parents with courtesy, and should never keep parents waiting indefinitely but try to satisfy the issues they may raise as amicably as possible.

Seventh – Tensions of various kinds will arise from time to time in every school and they should be swiftly addressed and diffused as soon as they are recognised. It is imperative that teachers and other school administrator work assiduously to deescalate any situations that may occur with parents.

If these usages from the colonial schools are adapted to our present educational System, they would most likely result in lasting cordiality between parents and teachers.

 

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