Murder in the classroom-Murder of innocence? Yes, it seems eons ago after the murder of a teacher by her own student in a Chennai school , though it happened only about a month ago. After the initial shock and dismay by the media and the community, the news is behind the curtains as the successive events take place at a greater speed. Why and how is this supposed to take place where we chant 'Maata, Pita, Guru, Daivom' (mother, father, teacher, god) all in one breath? Many successful people(who were able to realize their dreams) owe their prosperity to their teachers who act as guides next to parents. The boy in the scene was reported to be a pampered child who was given pocket money of Rs 100 everyday, consistently poor in academics. The teacher was just doing her duty when she wrote the remarks about the boy to update his parents. Did she imagine in her wildest of dreams that this would be her fate? I read a post somewhere which goes like this: "When you are going through something hard and wonder where GOD is remember the teacher is." After the gruesome murder, many afterthought theories were floated for some days. Blame on performance pressure, video games, violent movies, bad parenting, etc. The real reason for this crime may never come out, as it is in the law's interest to protect the minors. The boy was said to be upset as his teacher had written some negative remarks about him. But how did it lead to a 'KOLAVERI'-like mentality? He said he was inspired by the hero of the film 'Agneepath' to commit this crime. But, for me, these reasons do not sound sufficient. The catch may lie somewhere else. Even the boy may not be aware of those reasons. The years that he will spend in prison should give him sufficient space for remorse and introspection. I believe he may undergo various rounds of counselling which may help him turn a new leaf. School days are supposed to be carefree days sans life's harsh responsibilities. The best part of school life is making lots of friends, participating in various activities, going for picnics, sharing food etc. That is why most of the people recall those days with a sense of nostalgia and fondness. Yes, there is always that pressure to perform and excel today and even in the past. Some of the children may not be so lucky to have those blissful school days even though they were put well-known schools. The reasons for this can be many. Some of those, I think, are: (1) In our country, teachers tend to have fondness or preference for better-performing students. This is because more time and effort may be needed to give attention to the backward students for which the teachers may not have enough patience and time or ill-trained to handle a variety of children. Children of the 'other' category tend to develop inferiority complex without their knowing. (2) Though children are seen as pure and innocent beings, they can also be openly harsh and selfish to the lesser peers and may keep out the 'not so smart or assertive' classmates out of their group. This makes some children feel isolated and may not know how to communicate with their parents or teachers. This itself makes every school day boring and frustrating and the school authorities may fail to take notice of these subtler things. (3) With no one at home to give emotional support (nuclear families and both parents working), today's child will turn to variety of television programmes and video games which are directionless and provide no meaningful communication, but will make a strong, unwarranted impact in the tender minds. It is highly imperative that teachers need to be trained better to handle students of various characters. Schools should also have child-friendly counselors at various levels with whom a child will feel at home like his/her own parents. Every student should not be analyzed fully just on the basis of set of marks or grades, but the uniqueness should be brought out and given a proper direction. This will make him/her feel special and help develop the confidence. And lastly, every child is unique as we can see from the fact that NO TWO SETS OF FINGER PRINTS ARE ALIKE. P.S. Why do we still have a school syllabus which is 'One size fits all'??? Deepa.  Deepa Nagaraj Graduate in Maths, Postgraduate in English literature. Worked as a medical transcriptionist, also as a teacher.Share and Care |
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