Showkat Ahmad Dar
“The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.”Ralph Waldo Emerson
A teacher is supposed to deal with the most innocent and sensitive minds in schools. He must possess the scientific and modern methodology of teaching with which he could modify the behavior of a child and achieve the desired goals he is deemed to. It is a teacher who is responsible to shape, mould and train the child’s behavior and personality. A teacher decides whether the child is going to become a good and productive person or not. A teacher’s personality, his moral behavior, values, character and approach to life leaves a deep and everlasting impression on a child’s personality. A teacher is not merely an instructor, he is more than what a parent is to his child. He is the one who exposes a child to the scientific and rational knowledge the man has explored from time to time. He gives him hope and encourages him to dream of a life that could prove beneficial to mankind. Teacher is rightly called the builder of a nation because it is up to a teacher whether he produces good and productive citizens or not. He is like a potter who by his skilled hands makes the beautiful pots, which later on adores the kitchens, parks and gardens and makes people proud to possess them. But a potter must be well skilled and he must handle these pots with delicacy and extra care so that no pot could be produced defective. It is said that the mistake of a doctor lies buried in the grave; the mistake of an engineer lies cremated in bricks; the mistake of the lawyer lies in lies; but the mistake of a teacher is reflected on the nation. A teacher is supposed to deal with the human resource and any slightest mistake on his part can ruin the sacred and precious resource on earth. To realize his motive, a teacher needs to possess extraordinary patience while dealing with the little souls, who most of the time give him a tough time in the classroom. Unfortunately! a teacher sometimes resorts to verbal abuses and corporal punishments to bring a desirable change in a child’s behavior. This method puts the child’s life as well as his individuality at risk. This kind of inhuman practice harms a child more than it benefits him. A large number of students leave their studies in the middle because they either receive physical or verbal abuse for their slow pace in learning or any other mistake they make in their prime childhood. This way these teachers pave the way of countless children who join their schools with a hope to acquire knowledge and realise their dreams. Many children give up their studies for none of the reasons other than a teacher’s faulty teaching method. The physical assault on the young children deprives them to develop mentally, physically, emotionally and academically. It is the child’s self esteem that is being hurt by a teacher when he abuses or punishes him. He loses his hope, regard and self esteem to the extent that he decides to bunk the classes and eventually becomes a dropout. Corporal punishment is one of the leading causes of the dropouts in developing countries. Teachers who walk into the class holding a stick make the children fearful and tremble. Various researches have shown that physical punishment also sends the wrong message that aggressive behavior is a solution to conflict. It is an ineffective way of teaching behavioral control. It has been found that children who received physical punishment were more likely to experience anger related problems, physical aggression, marital dispute, involvement in violence and criminal activities. There is a tendency for the student to imitate aggression. Therefore, the more the students are exposed to corporal punishment, the more they become aggressive. It also encourages children to resort to violence because they see their authority figures (teachers) using it. Physical punishment makes children learn that, violence is acceptable behavior, and that it is all right for a stronger person to use force to coerce a weaker one. This therefore, helps to perpetuate a cycle of violence in the family and in the society in general. Verbal abuse and physical punishment may also cause the child to feel angry, helpless, powerless, guilty or ashamed and this can affect the child’s emotional, mental and physical development and his overall school performance. Sometimes punishment leaves children feeling more resentful (bitter and anger) as opposed to having learned correct behaviors. They are left focusing on the hurt they feel and not the lesson they could learn. Actually, through punishment children can learn to stop the behavior but not the reason why the behavior should be stopped. Therefore, it is possible for the student to repeat misbehaving. Punishing students with the belief of improving his or her performance is a wrong option. This is because the student will not improve; instead he will continue to dislike the subject and the teacher of that particular subject. Contrary, a child who receives compliments for being a good student is likely to show better academic performance than the one who is punished for doing poorly. It has also been seen that the children who receive verbal/corporal punishment usually have lower intellectual power than those who do not receive it. Such children may face the problem of losing memory and they may generally not remember what is taught by their parents and teachers. Studies show that, the children who are violently punished during their younger age tend to experience poor academic performance and some of them become mentally retarded (Nichols & Newman, 1986). Thus, one among major causes of mental retardation among people is the corporal punishment he/she has received either from their parents, teachers or any other guardian. Since punishment tends to de-humanize children and make them feel guilty, ashamed and worthless during the teaching and learning process, the teachers must restrain from such practices. It should also be abolished because it is interfering worth student’s right to be treated with dignity and as a result, is interfering with their right to a quality education and self esteem. Nevertheless, more efforts need to be made to educate parents and teachers on the implication of corporal punishment and verbal abuses as well as the alternatives that are available to them. It is important to note that good school discipline depends not only on non-violent responses to poor student behavior, but on skilled teachers who can make use of negative reinforcement to bring the desirable changes in a child’s behaviour. All we have to do is to adopt the modern teaching techniques to make the learning pleasurable and interesting one. We all must take a proactive role in protecting children from abuses, building their sense of self-worth, and teaching them a peaceful and constructive role to build society. Moreover, Families, educators and the society as a whole need to be made aware of laws and practices concerning children’s rights, so that no innocent soul could become the victim of such abuses by the people, who enjoy authority over them in the name of education.
Writer is a school teacher at Govt. Boys Higher Secondary School Dangarpora Zaingair
He can be reached at: showketahmad88030@gmail.com
