Hyderabad: The NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) guidelines clearly state that teachers have to develop an understanding of children and treat them fairly. However, they are not trained to do so. Counsellors barely exist, either for children or for teachers.
A teacher may have a natural empathy for children, but most do not and there is nothing in their training that encourages them to develop this vital trait. Shruthi Raj, a student, said, “There is a feeling of acute shame when a teacher canes us in front of our friends. It is bad enough when we are verbally scolded in front of others. I have gotten hit in seventh and tenth for not doing a maths problem correctly on the board. I remember crying about it and telling my parents. They told me that it is the teacher’s right to discipline me.”
Students who have undergone physical violence feel they can’t approach the teacher and share their concerns or raise queries. Psychologists say due to lack of security, children have behavioural problems in school and at home
“Students at a young age just want to fit in with their peers and impress them, so being hit in front of them or publicly shamed leads to them being introverts and losing interest in studies,” says Dr Bharat Reddy, a practicing psychologist.
He points out that this is one of the reasons for children dropping out of school. “Students begin to think that the teacher hates them, their friends will look down on them and this affects the child. And not every child will go home and talk about his/her troubles at school for fear of being scolded. It is actually like ragging, where the student stays secretive at home due to fear and shame,” says Dr Bharat.
A recent case where a student was asked to open his shirt buttons for not completing his homework shocked many. Psychologists claim that for a young mind this is enough to push the child into a state of depression.
