Who disciplines schools?
Recently in Kolkata, two back-to-back revolting incidents shook the public, both involving one of the most hallowed institutions of all times: the school.
Children as young as three and four were sexually assaulted by school teachers or support staff, in the school premises, within school hours!!! So much for the famed strict discipline and propriety our elite English medium schools boast about!
What have we come to as a nation? Where is our sense of morality? Are we so depraved that even babies are not spared these days? How will a child regain her self worth and her faith in adults? These questions fill our minds as we read the gruesome details in daily news. Parents shout slogans and corner school authorities, and demand the resignation of school heads. The ICSE has woken up from its slumber and insists that each school be covered with CCTV cameras.
But among this hullabaloo, what comes uppermost in our minds is the reaction of the reputed school authorities to the incidents. Maintaining stoic silence or detaching themselves from the situation, school heads maintain an indifference that is both shocking and reprehensible.
Yes, they sympathized with the child, and had duly initiated a probe against the guilty, but essentially they wanted no responsibility attached for the glaring lapses in school security. Nor were they apologetic for selecting veritable monsters as teachers and support staff. They did not admit that anything was wrong with A) The school recruitment procedure that allowed such staff to get in, or B) The whole system of internal vigilance and supervision that was seriously flawed.
Fence sitting has become a second nature to most people in position and power, but don't incidents of this type shake them out of their complacence? Don't they question themselves, "Where have we gone wrong"? Don't their hearts reach out to the poor child, barely a toddler, who is scarred for life by such inhuman acts? Don't they feel for the parent who had entrusted the school with the well being of their precious child?
If a child commits an act of indiscipline or is even mildly aberrant, notices immediately go out to the parents, summoning them to school. In most cases, the child is rebuked, penalized, humiliated, or even suspended or expelled, for any thing he or she does that deviates from the set notions of discipline and conduct. Then what about the breach of trust and conduct in these hallowed institutions? Who will discipline the keepers of morality?
Immediate measures need to be taken to restore the confidence and faith of parents in school safety. More importantly, a humane approach must be practiced by principals. Don't think of parents and students, and yourself and school administration as opposing sides. There is no "us" and "them". All of us are humans, and our duty towards humanity is above all positions. Give justice to the wronged even if it means axing your own people.
Please remember this simple lesson, principals!
Children as young as three and four were sexually assaulted by school teachers or support staff, in the school premises, within school hours!!! So much for the famed strict discipline and propriety our elite English medium schools boast about!
What have we come to as a nation? Where is our sense of morality? Are we so depraved that even babies are not spared these days? How will a child regain her self worth and her faith in adults? These questions fill our minds as we read the gruesome details in daily news. Parents shout slogans and corner school authorities, and demand the resignation of school heads. The ICSE has woken up from its slumber and insists that each school be covered with CCTV cameras.
But among this hullabaloo, what comes uppermost in our minds is the reaction of the reputed school authorities to the incidents. Maintaining stoic silence or detaching themselves from the situation, school heads maintain an indifference that is both shocking and reprehensible.
Yes, they sympathized with the child, and had duly initiated a probe against the guilty, but essentially they wanted no responsibility attached for the glaring lapses in school security. Nor were they apologetic for selecting veritable monsters as teachers and support staff. They did not admit that anything was wrong with A) The school recruitment procedure that allowed such staff to get in, or B) The whole system of internal vigilance and supervision that was seriously flawed.
Fence sitting has become a second nature to most people in position and power, but don't incidents of this type shake them out of their complacence? Don't they question themselves, "Where have we gone wrong"? Don't their hearts reach out to the poor child, barely a toddler, who is scarred for life by such inhuman acts? Don't they feel for the parent who had entrusted the school with the well being of their precious child?
If a child commits an act of indiscipline or is even mildly aberrant, notices immediately go out to the parents, summoning them to school. In most cases, the child is rebuked, penalized, humiliated, or even suspended or expelled, for any thing he or she does that deviates from the set notions of discipline and conduct. Then what about the breach of trust and conduct in these hallowed institutions? Who will discipline the keepers of morality?
Immediate measures need to be taken to restore the confidence and faith of parents in school safety. More importantly, a humane approach must be practiced by principals. Don't think of parents and students, and yourself and school administration as opposing sides. There is no "us" and "them". All of us are humans, and our duty towards humanity is above all positions. Give justice to the wronged even if it means axing your own people.
Please remember this simple lesson, principals!
Comments
Post a Comment