The incident that took place in the Govt.School in Nehru Vihar, Timarpur, Delhi on the second of December 2009is an eye opener for the policy makers of Education in India! It was an unfortunate incident that speaks volumes about a system of Education that has gone badly wrong! The Hindustan Times reported that, “A school turned into a virtual battleground when two groups of students got into a fight allegedly over a girl in Timarpur in North Delhi on Wednesday morning.”
I feel that there are a few reasons why there is so much violence in our schools today. First and foremost, the hounding of teachers as culprits and sadists and by the Indian Media is an important contributor to this problem! Today, our students do not respect their teachers, this is because they have become totally fearless of their teachers, thanks to the media. The media has insulted the dignified role of a teacher, the Guru Shishya relationship has been insulted by the media who are out to sensationalise stray incidents of students being punished by an already overstressed teacher! Students are not afraid of their teachers because the media has portrayed teachers as powerless organisms who can’t scold you, or reprimand you because corporal punishment is banned. If students have no fear of teachers, then how do you expect them to remain disciplined? Today, a teacher is not allowed to discipline students.
The media doesn’t realise how difficult it is for a teacher to handle a class of fifty to seventy students in each class room. Parents are not able to handle two children, so how do you expect a teacher to handle seventy students? How does a teacher make students stick to disciplined behaviour unless there is a degree of fear for the teacher in the student?
Our policy makers should draft a policy on how to handle problems of discipline in schools of Delhi. Are they aware that discipline has become a major problem in Delhi today? Today students and teachers are a confused lot, thanks to the policies of the autocrats who are running our education departments. The recently introduced changes in the system of education for ninth and tenth class has left students and teachers baffled! Today students are not afraid of failing in their classes, so they don’t care about studies because they know that they will not be detained in class. The changes in the system of education have been too rapid for the students and their teachers. The reforms introduced in the system of education makes it virtually impossible for a student to fail in classes sixth, seventh and ninth.
The policymakers seem bent on experimenting with the system of education. Why are they playing with the lives of students? Why are they making board exams at the class tenth level optional? If students are not afraid of being detained, why will they be disciplined?
Today our schools have become virtual battlegrounds where students literally battle it out to prove their supremacy. A few months back unruly students went on a rampage in a school in Khajuri Khas in Delhi which resulted in the death of some students.
Government schools are overcrowded today , what with seventy to eighty students in each class. Today we are going for mass education.We are not bothered about quality! Overcrowding of classrooms is one of the reasons why our students have become unruly. It is very difficult to maintain discipline in a class of seventy students! Why then doesn’t our Government build new schools?
If discipline is an important issue why then is the government turning a blind eye to this problem?
The stories carried in newspapers today prove that students have become uncontrollable today, and that our system of education is defective, and that we need to do some serious thinking before it is too late. We can’t afford leniency in matters of discipline!
Dear policy makers, start thinking about why our students are more uncontrollable today! Don’t think introducing grading or abolishing Board exams, think about discipline! Today the issue of Discipline is a major issue! Don’t go for mass education, go for quality education,think about maintaining the dignity of the teacher.Do all this and I am sure you will get better discipline in the schools of Delhi! Don’t attempt to ape the systems of education in other countries, our traditional system of education was better than their system of education. Please ensure that your policies protect the guru shishya tradition of India!
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