KOZHIKODE: The student -teacher relationship has undergone a change in the schools in Kerala with the students becoming more aware of child rights and the teachers turning more cautious in their behaviour towards their wards. The teachers are aware of the fact that the students can go to the child rights commission/officials raising their complaints any time. Recently, ahead of Onam examination, the teachers in the district were instructed by their school heads to avoid putting cross signs in answer papers indicating wrong answers, so as not to create a negative thought in the students.
“Instead of the cross signs we were asked to put any other signs to indicate a wrong answer,” said Naseera (name changed), a teacher here. Students have started questioning teachers even for small issues. Marks have been replaced by grades, citing less marks cause tension to the students compared to less grades. Nazeer Chaliyam, member, Kerala State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, said that it was unscientific to replace cross signs with other signs and directly or indirectly indicate that the answer is wrong. Such signs create worry to the students and we don’t want them to get upset for all these silly issues,” Chaliyam said.
Students are now more confident to talk about child rights to their teachers. The teachers and the institutions’ heads are also more cautious while dealing with their students, he added. Child psychologist Suresh Nambiar said that child rights have also been misused. Students should not worry about getting their hair braided or seeing a cross sign for wrong answers, but pursue higher academic matters, he opined.
