Teachers have the power to influence mindsets and make or break personalities of their students
RAWALPINDI: Time and again, abuse — physical or mental — at the hands of a teacher on their student has been reported. Such stories are not limited to Pakistan but the entire East, and sometimes the West.
A recent news of a child in Pakistan being slapped so hard by his teacher that he became temporarily deaf and a girl being shamed in front of the class by her teacher in India that she went on to commit suicide because of the public humiliation, show what goes behind closed doors in classrooms in the subcontinent.
Teachers have the power to influence mindsets and make or break personalities of their students. Many studies have shown the effect of a child being taught by such teachers. This is why it is increasingly important for school managements to go beyond the test and interview screening method for potential teachers. New ways should be adopted to gauge the mental stability of a teacher and stricter laws should be in place for prosecution to discourage teachers from such acts.
At the same time, students should be encouraged to speak to the management directly or a specific individual like a student’s counsellor about these incidents. A civilised and educated individual is as important as a mentally healthy one.
Zeenia Ashraf
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2017.
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