Nuzhat Bashir
Nothing can replace that feeling when someone goes back into the past and thinks about school memories. Almost every individual when asked about their best moments of life reply “school days”-the bag loaded with books, uniform, morning prayers and what not.
But today students don’t feel any difference between horror movie and school. Love and care has been replaced by punishment. School is a place where tiny minds are turned into doctors, engineers and so on.
But it’s really pathetic to witness how some teachers harass studentsphysically and mentally to groom their minds. The punishments in schools have become nightmare for students. In recent years there has been rise in such incidents. Every now and then newspapers are filled with such reports and some are even left unreported.
“School is best place and education is light, but punishment is not a way to enlighten a child. Children are like flowers. They will bloom if we take good care of them; rough handling will turn them pale. Students get mentally disturbed by punishments “says Mohammad Yaseen, a shopkeeper.
“In our times our teachers used to share their lunch with us. We should take action against such teachers who physically or mentally harass children “he adds.
Students no longer feel safe in schools. The mental set up in our time of going school was for fun, friends and to learn but now it is completely different. “School is a place where students are taught discipline. The concept of punishment in schools was there, even during past, but this generation is different. They take it negatively. Children today are impatient and need to be handled with more care and love”, says Razia, a homemaker.
“Few days back a school boy in our locality was beaten by his school teacher. He doesn’t want to go school anymore now, after that incident. Such incidents have odd effect on students. Teachers should take care of such things”, she adds.
Ahmad, a student from Burn hall says,” no doubt that today students are rude, there should be punishment for mistakes like students carry cell phones in classrooms and bunk their classes, but that punishment should be in limits”.
Punishments cause hatred and anger among students against school. Punishments force children to leave their studies and lead to increase in dropout rate. Many students even today suffer from this, regardless of the fact that the Hon’ble Supreme Court has imposed strict ban on it. “Students should stop doing such things which will make them land in trouble. They should learn to be more responsible and moreover its responsibility of every parent to guide and tell their children what is good or bad. Teachers should apply other methods like counseling to make students overcome their weakness”, says RiyazMir, teacher.
Discipline should be taught to children, if their behavior is out of hand, punishing them in front of peers makes them feel embarrassed. Corporal punishment is bad, barbaric and brutal. It only teaches children to fear others instead of punishing them; teacher should try to convince them efficiently. Studies show that punishment perpetuates violent behavior among children. They come to believe that all disputes and infractions should be dealt with violence. But teacher should erase communication gap between her/him and student and try to understand immature mind. It is believed, after mother it is a teacher who primes child throughout his/her school age.