Violence in school

The nation was shocked by the news that a 15 year old boy stabbed his teacher to death on 9 February in a school in Chennai. Teaching profession is considered as a noble profession around the world. This violent incident is a wakeup call for all Indians. Sociologists, educationists, social activists, psychologists, teachers, and parents have to introspect asking the question: What is the root cause for this malady? This has happened in Chennai that is generally considered as a conservative city. Around the country we hear news like college principals/professors being beaten, gheroed, humiliated and even killed.

The present generation has the responsibility to invest positively for the next generation. There are various influences that impact growing children and teen agers. If one aspect fails, it would certainly impact the other aspects also. The incident that happened in the school cannot be simply ignored or consider as isolated incident. It is just a symptom of deeper malady in the society.

Parents
The primary responsibility in bringing up children in discipline is that of parents. There are poor parents who neglect their children as they do not have skills of parenting. Young middle class parents like to pamper children and take sides with children and portray teachers as 'intruders' in the freedom of children. Neglected children of poor parents do not learn to respect the authority of teachers. Pampered children of middle class defy the authority of teachers with tacit support of their parents. Home is the place to nurture children to develop them into responsible adults who would become honest citizens of this nation.

Parenting skills is a missing element in the homes today. Sadly, modern day parents think that it could be outsourced. For some, it is outsourced from school for others it is outsourced from media. This flawed idea, has led parents to neglect or absolve their responsibility for their children.

School
The education system also has been corrupted by emphasis on success rather than learning or grooming of character. Schools plan short cuts to help children to 'pass' in exams rather than teach them to learn, shape their values, find their calling or role in the society and provide skills to analyze and interpret the events in their lives. Academic success in the form of marks is considered most important, which is considered passport for entering prestigious institutions and later entry to the high paying white collar jobs. The schools run by Government are seen as 'institutions of failure' and parents prefer private schools if they could afford it. No wonder, there are hierarchy of schools that cater according the income level of parents.

The teacher, who was stabbed to death, had made 13 remarks regarding the performance of the student. She did according to the rules of any education system. The teacher needed support from the parents as only certain aspects of disciplining could be done in the school. If the co-operation from the parents are missing then it becomes difficult for the teachers to handle such children. With corporal punishment being banned, teachers do not have tools and skills to manage such below-average children. The school management is perplexed.

Media
Media saturation is shaping the culture of the society today. Children learn more through media rather than parents or teachers. Unfortunately, media provide negative influence rather than positive influence over children. The impressionable age is shaped by the image saturated media. Instead of promoting virtue, vice is celebrated; instead of love and forgiveness, hate and revenge is promoted; instead of purity and peace, sex and violence is glorified; instead of humility, arrogance and abusive power is honoured.

It is no wonder that the 15 year old boy thought 'revenge' was justice and violence is the best way to solve his inadequacy. I wonder why he did not just drop out from the school instead of committing this murder. Revenge and rage was up in his mind rather than avoiding confrontation and walking out of the environment in a new direction.

Digital media offers entertainment which is expression of rage. Games such as racing cars that ruthlessly run over people or angry birds inculcate rage, revenge and violence and not noble virtues. Kids like to have entertainment as the centre piece of life rather than education. Naturally, kids with such environment of entertainment would turn violent.

Government
The government shapes the culture and society by its policies and leadership. Indian education system has remained unchanged for many years. There are not enough teachers to run the huge system. With poor administration many schools function optimally. The amount that is allotted for education has been misused by the government to build roads and even award cricketers. In many rural schools, teachers do not visit school every day.

The government and government aided schools in the cities somewhat function, but teachers are not highly motivated. Only few schools are an exception. The results of the schools in public exams are dismal. Generally, it is blamed on students and teachers do not take responsibility. Also there is a problem with teachers-students ratio. Individual attention is not possible for teachers when there are too many students in a class. Unfortunately, many teachers do not have holistic approach to education. They do not consider the overall development of children but just brand the kids success or failure by the way they do their tests in class. The Government has to have enough schools, enough teachers, healthy teacher-student ration, dynamic curriculum, well trained teachers, equipped class rooms and demand accountability from the institutions.

It may become a bitter reality to see schools having metal detector at the entrance and CTV to watch and monitor the class rooms. It is better to have counsellors in the schools instead of security apparatus in the schools.

Society
Schools are part and parcel of the society. They cannot be viewed in isolation or as islands. What happens in the general society would have the impact on the institutions in the school. The Indian society has become tolerant to violence in day-to-day lives. The moral standards of leaders in all aspects of life are falling down. The society elects more and more representatives for offices in the local, state and nation with criminal records. Well meaning citizens are worried that the society is unable to throw up right kind of role models in the society. So, celebrities like actors, cricketers become role models. The power, perks, prestige of the celebrities and powerful individuals are coveted by young people rather than people with integrity, honesty, knowledge and of noble character.

The progress of Indian society in arena of economy is lop-sided. The rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. So, there is a growing gap between the rich and poor. The poor are being marginalized, exploited and oppressed. The youngsters among them harbour anger towards society especially those who are in the position of authority. This anger explodes in violence as it happened in the school, when a teacher was ruthlessly murdered.

Time for reformation
This incident is an eye opener. In the pursuit to become Super power, India cannot tread over the sea of humanity who is poor and neglected. The Government should initiate policies to reform the school system. The media should play a constructive role in shaping the minds of people, instead of following sensual presentation of facts and information. Parents have the primary responsibility; cannot absolve them or outsource them. There is need for providing skills for parenting for parents. Schools should have counsellors to help children to cope with the stress they face in the school and outside. Let us reform as we cannot afford to fail our next generation.