Harsh lessons

Sir — It was disheartening to read about the ways in which students get abused by their teachers (“Bunk class, get electric shock”, Aug 5). While it is true that students often misbehave in class, there are surely less cruel ways of reprimanding them than giving electric shocks. Have the teachers forgotten the fact that young minds can be moulded only through kindness and patience, and not by torture? If the students are forever in fear of their teachers, they will never be able to learn. However, in the middle of the distressing news comes the announcement that the government is planning to take steps against guilty teachers (“Beat a student? Pay the price”, Aug 4). The authorities have come forward at the right time to put an end to the evil that is taking hold of the Indian education system.

Yours faithfully,
Debobarna Karmakar, Siliguri

Sir — The students of the International Good Shepherd School near Tuni have allegedly been punished not merely for making mischief but also for “offences” such as low scores or protesting the quality of hostel food. The school charges anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,500 a month as fess, depending on the standard of hostel accommodation and food. If the quality of food served in the hostel is not good enough, even though the parents are being made to pay a considerable sum as school fess, the children have every right to complain. The school should acknowledge its shortcomings instead of punishing the children.

Yours faithfully,
R. Kumar, Calcutta

Sir — Education has become a business in recent times. Private schools are vying with each other to enlist as many students as possible into their fold. The worst affected as a result of the competition are the students who have become pawns in the hands of these schools. Besides having to shoulder the burden of a vast syllabus, the children have to put up with parental pressure and often get punished brutally if their performance falls short of expectations.

Worse, the teachers see no harm in punishing students in the belief that harsh measures are required to discipline children. Take for instance what happened in the International Good Shepherd School. The headmaster of this particular educational institution has publicly stated that he gave electric shocks to the students to “help” them improve their performance. The statement is shocking and demonstrates the indifference that today’s teachers have towards students. Are we living in the Middle Ages or is this the 21st century? Schools are not correctional centres that teachers would deliver electric shocks to ‘cure’ students of problems. If a student deserves to be punished, he should be warned or, in extreme cases, expelled but never brutalized in such a horrible manner.

Yours faithfully,
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee, Faridabad

Sir — The government of Andhra Pradesh should immediately suspend the headmaster of International Good Shepherd School so that other teachers think twice before behaving cruelly with students. Merely making the accused pay a compensatory amount to the victim, as the new law proposes to do, is not enough.

Yours faithfully,
T.R. Anand, Calcutta

Sir — I agree with the views expressed in the editorial, “Schooled in abuse” (Aug 6). Indeed, the first step towards stopping teachers from being harsh towards their pupils is to make the students aware of their rights. Children fall victim to all kinds of abuse easily because they are helpless and cannot speak up for themselves. Awareness programmes would empower them and help them fight back against abuse. Special cells, managed by experts in child psychology, should be constituted to help students lodge complaints against this kind of exploitation. A traumatic childhood experience can continue to affect an individual well into adulthood. Therefore, urgent and mature counselling needs to be provided to the students who have been victimized by their teachers.

Yours faithfully,
Piu Sur, Calcutta

Sir — While boys are beaten to death by their teachers, young girls are often sexually exploited by the same. There was a time when the place of learning was considered to be a sacred domain. However, the situation seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Nowadays, one often gets to hear of schools becoming hotbeds of immoral activities. The modernization of India appears to have banished all humane values, bringing only corruption and sleaze in its wake.

Yours faithfully,
Salil Gewali, Shillong

Sir — Respect cannot be inculcated by force — it has to be earned. Teachers who torture students cannot ever earn their pupils’ trust or devotion. A word of love is more effective in correcting an errant student than a hundred beatings. But there can be no pardon for the teachers who treat students callously. They should be put in jail for not less than 5 years.

Yours faithfully,
M.M. Kale, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh

Clarification

There was a piece of botched chronology in my article, “With the severe master” (Aug 5). J.M. Coetzee was not an unknown author in the late Nineties, having already written several novels and won a Booker Prize. The Antonioni season that Coetzee’s narrator watches in London in Youth (2002) must have taken place in the early Sixties. The confusion is regretted.

Aveek Sen