TEACHERS AND BACK BENCHERS :story of a backbencher

Teachers ,front benchers and back benchers!

for some time now this forum has been very active about a particular profession and the malpractices rampent in it.

how ever while the current focus is on this one since it happens to deal directly with a life i recounted a certain another one which deals with life too although not directly but alas whose impact shapes a life itself. young innocent children whose lives and personalities are just about to bud and who are so vulnrable and scared in the new environments. their parents entrust their responsibilities to some one who is infact a second parent for 8 hours a day for the next 12 years of their kids' lives. calculate that and u get an enormous amount of time , enough to shape their lives and personalities, make or break their confidence.

TEACHERS!

i recount one day my younger sister who was in UKG ( that particular school's designation for upper kindergarden ) returning home all teary eyed and messy ... we enquired what happenned. she would not say anything. day after day she would come home completely distraught and we did nto know what was wrong. untill one day she said , while writing down a spelling her teacher was dictating , she made a mistake . since she did not have an eraser that day and was too scared to ask her neighbour for one , she soaked her finger in her saliva and tried to erase the word with it. her teacher saw this and grabbed her head by her hair and slammed her head on her desk. al the while screamign you good for nothing oaf , look at the mess u made!

my father was livid, he took a strong exception to this treatment his five year old child had recieved. he went and complained to the principal. he was shocked to see all teahcers gang up in defense and lay the blame on a 5 year old child who was completely scared of them , and blamed her for being impertinent and belligerant and that strong measures were desired to discipline (!) his child. he was flabbergasted. however he said that we woudl try to improve her but under no condition his child should recieve physical punshment of this sort ( that was actually child abuse ).

so ok. they reassured him that no physical punishment would be given to his child. PHYSICAL they said. what they had in store for her was PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL punishment for having dared to complain to her parents and he rparents taking strong action against them. which was actually no action at all ( the real action should have been a law suit against the school for teachers indulging in child abuse!)

they made her life living hell. they made her sit on the back bench. isolated her in the class by telling other children to not mix with her. she had her food alone in the lunch breaks when i would go to give her company and solace. they constantly taunted her and made fun of her in front of other students ... they made sure her confidence and personality suffers as much as possible. these were TEACHERS wgo were entrusted with the responsibility of shaping a budding innocent life in their hands.

this was no gali mohale ka school it was the most reputed convent school in a very famous city. my father never had much as a government servent but what ever he had he invested in the education of his two daughters , made sure they got the best one possible even if he had to live without much comforts and luxury. my parents along with my sister suffered a good seven months of unspeakble misery as they cudnt pull out their daughter in mid session!

my sister still rememebrs the experince vividly. needless to say it has filled her with hate for all figures in the position of authority.

coming to me. i was always the bad ass to boot but not withou tmy reasons. my experience with teachers began in my prep ! i was three years old!

i joined prep a few months shy of age three which made me the youngest inthe entire class . i was exceptionally quite and hesitent .one day my finger nails were not trimmed and i was pointed out at the class checking ... sent to the principla's office and wow teh principla told me " that your fingers will be cut off next time you do not cut your nails!!!!" talk of psyhological damage inflicted on an innocent child!

needleed to say i was terrified! i still remember that day as vividly 30 years hence.

i was humiliated for not being able to spell my name correctly since it was a good 10 letter name!

made to feel inadequate at every step. i was always terrified of going to school. at such a tender age i did not even know how to explain how terrible and humiliating the experiene was to go to school. a 3 year old kid and this state of mind. i used to hide beneath the tables inthe hope i was not discovered and sent to school each day but i was ALWAYS discovered and sent. simpyl becuase my parnets never knew what used to transpire there.i used to wonder for what am i being subjected to such a punishment? why life sucks.

then came high school. i was always on the brighter side, not the first but always in first 10s. there were some nice and supportive teachers in that particular school ( i happenned to have changed six school sin my life due to my dad's job) and i would like to proudly say the school i was happiest in was SOPHIA CONVENT AJMER. the teachers did not have false egos. they truly cared to nurture. my personality was shaped and driven largly by the teachers there.one was old , very old and so much caring i longed for he rperiods to come ... mrs Roberts , miss vandana and miss D'souza. i know these names mean nothing to anyone bu ti am mentioning them here all the same to showcase how i remember them till today. even thinking about those time sis bringing me back so many memories , such warm atmosphere ... how ever due to my dad;s job i changed again. in the new school i again got a very caring and supportive teacher but she remianed with me only for one year. after i stood second in the tenth board my life changed again as i took the biology stream.

now i had again those stick yielding , hugely egoistic , sadistic teachers who used weaker students , or simpyl students they did not like , as punch bags for

1) taking out their daily frustrations

2) to humiliate them in front of other to boost the confidence of their own 'PETS" OR STUDENTS WHO DID THEIR chamchagiri or sycophants by constant comparisons.

they even used to purposefully give me less marks on the same anwers their pets were writing. some how more they humiliated me the more i found myself questioning their worth. should i respect them merely for their age? or their qualities?

each day one of them tried to put me down to push their own pet forward, i would go to my coaching class and study harder . i had resolved deep down , i am going to succeed despite all the hurdles they are creating for me. they were my inspiration too , onyl becuase they proclaimed i would never do anything in life!

i indeed succeeded where their students did not. cleared national exam of medical enterance in one shot! cleared my MBBS in one shot too.

MBBS was a different story all together. i learnt to become a wall flower since i knew how much damage an egoistic teacher can do becuase unfortunately they hold my future in their hands. somehow i managed to draw NO ATTENTION to myself.

then came marriage and due to my husband's placement in tokyo i could not practise in clinical side. i joined research. worked in an area preciously unknown to me IT applications in medicine. worked in fields related to PACS. learnt soft wares and statistics. teh day my first paper was published was the happiest.it happenned to be in the european journal of radiology the world's second placed journal. my professor was proud and so was i and inwardly i said " look teachers i did it!".

then came my daughter and i left everything. i became complacent untill few days back , when a teacher again humiliated me and memories came flooding in ... of all the humiliation, pain and abuse. how i decided to fight all of them who said i could not do it and still i did it! i salute the inspiration. the teachers who care and nurture a life

and

the teachers who make the back benchers their punch bags!

they shove me into the bad ass mode.i love to prove them wrong. love me or hate me , thats me for you.

i have again resolved to prove myself, reach new heights for i take great pride in doing something some one says i cannot especially a teacher.

the point to moot : malpractices of child abuse are rampent in indian education system. next time your child is hiding under your bed , dont automatically assume it is merely a tantrum and all is well.she may be suffering from physical of psychological abuse which can scar her for life.

being a responsible forum people make this out to be, i can expect an audience. even if i dont , i dont care. internet has its worth but not when ur self image is concerned and people are free to pass mercilessly cruel judgements without even attempting to know you.

i wont bother to come back and read the response. my intention was to make a point and im sure since none others are suffering from persecution complex, my post will make it.

dont be quick to point fingers when ur own house is on fire.

as for my sister , she is a PHD student in a prestigious university, going next month to hawaii to give a presentation, while the teacher who hit her, is still a teacher where she was , probably still destroying another life. we salute her.

thanks all for listening. hopefully one parent can become aware and will look out for his child by reading my post. isnt this what satya mev jayate all about : making people aware of things none knew existed!

It was good to read that you and your sister proved them wrong. Keep up the spirit. Teachers sometimes favourite a set of students. My son once said , he felt bad that his teacher consistently took the opinion of only two kids to select a video to watch after completing an unit while others had to simply agree. I emailed her and next time she deciding upon votes from all kids. It is just an example that a kid's heart is so sensitive that this much little matter will also cause a them to doubt if the teacher doesnot like them. A teacher's role is as important as a parent's in shaping up their future.

am going to read it soon

RES

and BRB - breakfast time

yes

well there are all kinds of teachers. when i was in class III, our class teacher was the sweetest woman i knew at that time. as a shy kid i never talked to her directly or personally but i knew she was the best teacher.

in my 11th standard, there was a English teacher who dared to use different techniques for studies and regardless to say, another class didnt feel it fit and protested against the teacher. Were they not open to change or experiemental teaching. i do not know and those students are doing their PHDs but i feel they were and maybe still ARE a very intolerant lot.
i myself am no where in terms of my career but then i feel proud that atleast i am not like them or like so many who are at esteemed positions but still a little hypocritic* if thats a word.

there are bad teachers but there are so many good ones too. and its a shame when principals try to cover them up or throw out the low performing students before exams so that there school's percentage doesnt show to be LOW.

I think in India teacher became teachers because there is no other option.most of them do not like LOVE their jobs.They should get proper training how to deal with children depending on their age.The school or education depatrments should have psychologist to deal with different types of problems.Education is a burden in India.All theory,bookish most of them not updated.No need to study like this you should know the practical side.This is the reason I didnt go back to India when my circumstance in UK went bad.My parents were telling me to come back but i knew that my teen age son can not cope up with the Indian education system.Here he can do things himself,allows him to think there are lots of clubs which boost his confidence there is one person in the school whom he can talk like a friend.Teachers are friendly.In my opinion parents should be friendly too so the children will naturally tell everything to you.Hope Aamir khan will bring this issue on his show.

@mdmallu

thats a very biased approach.
i have been in india for 26 years and i have come across all kinds of teachers so that approach is quite inaccurate.
yes, the education system needs to change and so does the theoretical approach but then i would stop there. There are sensitive teachers and am proud of them.

Good teachers do wonders and we survive despite the bad ones... This post has stirred up a hornet's nest of memories for me ... I distinctly remember how 2 faced some teachers were - Nice to my mother's face but mean to me!... I wonder how some of them could go to sleep with being petty to children on their consciences...

Originally posted by: madmallu

I think in India teacher became teachers because there is no other option.most of them do not like LOVE their jobs.They should get proper training how to deal with children depending on their age.The school or education depatrments should have psychologist to deal with different types of problems.Education is a burden in India.All theory,bookish most of them not updated.No need to study like this you should know the practical side.This is the reason I didnt go back to India when my circumstance in UK went bad.My parents were telling me to come back but i knew that my teen age son can not cope up with the Indian education system.Here he can do things himself,allows him to think there are lots of clubs which boost his confidence there is one person in the school whom he can talk like a friend.Teachers are friendly.In my opinion parents should be friendly too so the children will naturally tell everything to you.Hope Aamir khan will bring this issue on his show.

If you are gone to India from abrod at a young age it is OK but if you have spent lots of years there, specially for teenagers it may be difficult for the kids to adjust with the educational system.As a mother I sit with him and teach him I know there are lots of kids in his class who are not able to read,write or do simple maths problems.If you are with them they will do better in life.I can proudly say that I have a close relationship with my son and I teach him our culture.

I have seen In India we are killing children.My relatives children dont have time to socialise.Two of them are doing entrance prepartion(medicine and engineering together)Most of them will have tutions coaching for entrance.Their aim is to get in to a good college and get degrees,campus selection and job.Most of them end like that if you are intelligent go for research(our country needs that)Be able to present yourself,do things independently..

Just like your sister had such an experience my brother also experienced similar things at the hand of his class teacher when we was 6 years...he was losing his self confidence, became cranky and irritated...and when my parents came to know about what all was happening to him in school, they complained to the head teacher...the problem was the teacher even had political backing so even though not only my parents but even other parents complained abt her no action was taken against her...my parents then shifted my brother to the newly formed Day Shift at the school ...previously in the school till fifth standard it was in morning shift but later on a separate day shift was opened till 5th standard...the teachers in that shift were very good and very supportive...my brother got back his lost confidence, became his happy self again...now he is in college studying Engineering.