Teachers lose respect, children lack proper care

Showing interest and care for students will create a bond of trust with them. In most cases, they will reciprocate, establishing a win-win situation for both students and teachers. Positive, encouraging and an honest teacher-student communication is vital at all levels. Any kind of bias must be avoided and the system be made flawless and fool proof. This will definitely avoid controversies and help build a strong bond between students and teachers.

Dr Shruti K Chawla, Chandigarh

Overhaul system 

To revive the old relationship of mutual respect, regard, trust and understanding between students and teacher, the overall system needs to be overhauled. We have to observe discipline sincerely, our politicians have to stop playing politics, our films and television should promote positive things and eschew violence. Parents should teach mutual respect and respect for elders to students. 

Dr Gurdev Singh, Mohali

Spend time with children

The slapping of a teacher by a student in Chandigarh and the killing of another one in Yamunanagar is all due to the children being neglected by their parents, who remain most of the times in their offices. They don’t know what their grown up wards do in their absence. They become part of a bad company. Parents should give the maximum attention to them and keep reminding them about the value of a good company. That will make them good citizens when they grow up.

RK Kapoor, Chandigarh

Cousel children properly

Teachers and parents at times fail to address the issue. Instead of complaining and criticising students for their behaviour, parents and teachers should counsel them as they are already depressed. Before a child opts for a stream, an official system of proper counselling and deliberation should be followed so as to make the right carrier choice and not follow the herd blindly. Appropriate student-teacher ratio should also be kept in mind.

Surbhi Sharma, Chandigarh

Instill moral values

We’re not fulfilling our responsibilities as parents if we fail to instill moral values among children. Children learn from how parents treat others. We should teach our children that caring and respecting others is a must. We need to keep our children busy with some productive work so that their energy is channeled in a positive way and the negative behaviour is gradually given up.

Kamalpreet Kaur, Mohali

Violence in life on the rise 

Violence is in the air. It is on the street, in Parliament, electioneering, homes and it is being shown on TV in a horrifying way. Students are becoming intolerant and violent after seeing all these. Alcohol is adding fuel to the fire. School consellors’ services are not being utilised. Parents are not giving time to their children as they are overburdened with work. Behavior of some teachers is also damaging the student-teacher relationship, which is based on trust and respect.

Bharat Bhushan Sharma

Vigil on activities of students required

The guru-shishya tradition has been lost. It is time for soul searching and finding a solution. Every school must have a counsellor/psychologist to should the right path to children. They should be encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities. Since every school has a computer lab, CCTV cameras be installed in every classroom and these should be monitored. They should not be allowed to use mobile phones during school hours.

Harish Kapur, Chandigarh

Role of society vital

To check the growing malaise, we, as a civil society, need to play a pivotal role. We need to understand in the first place that when a teacher rebukes or reprimands a student, he does it for his/her betterment. We need to change the mindset of our wards towards their teachers through counselling. School managements need to hold theme talks for students. Inspiring tales from the lives and times of great gurus need to be made a talking point in classrooms.

Ramesh K Dhiman, Chandigarh

Act tough against           violent children

Senior officials should visit different education institutions and check the standard of education. The Administration must take strict action against violent students. The Administration should provide minimum four or five security guards at each school. Parents and the Administration must cooperate  with the teaching staff. They should not use rough language against teachers.

Sumesh Kumar Badhwar, Mohali

Respect teachers

Some teachers do not take their duty seriously. They do not upgrade their knowledge due to which students rely more on the digital media. Some TV shows and films also present the teacher-student relations in a distorted way. Parents, teachers and society must take concrete steps so that education has a meaning and educators gets respect they deserve.

Bubby Soin

Spare the rod, spoil              the child

Doubtlessly, during previous years, students had some fear of their teachers. Parents too had regard for them. Teachers used to give punishment for the betterment of their pupil. Consequently, everything was going on in a smooth way. Although the time has gone under a great change, an old proverb-spare the rod and spoil the child-is still relevant.

Surinder Paul Wadhwa, Mohali

Improve communication among teachers, parents  

Improper upbringing at home by indifferent parents and the laxity  on the part of teachers at schools results to obstinacy among students, which is the root cause of this evil. Such students, who have scant regard for discipline, should be treated by psychologists. They personality may be improved by facilitating discussion among parents and teachers. 

Bhupinder S Sealopal, Mohali

Teach religious values

We have forgotten old days. Children were afraid of parents. Nowadays, parents are afraid of their children. Whatever demand is raised by children, they are met immediately. Notably, when a student in a school of America shot dead 25 students of his school, the American president held his parents   responsible for it. Religious values should be taught to children.

Tarlok Singh, Mani Majra

Hold counselling  sessions frequently

Undue pampering of children results in intolerance among them. Such upbringing needs to be shunned. Notwithstanding, frequent counselling sessions by experts must also be held. Strict action must be taken against children if their indulge in violence.

SS Arora, Mohali

Shameful incidents

The murder and slapping of teachers is shameful. Such incidents take place due to undue pampering of children by parents, use of mobile phones, lack of social relationship among teachers and students, the use of social media, exposure to movies glorifying such incidents and no punishment by teachers to students besides court cases.

Vinod Shetty

Education system                     to blame

The prevailing education system is to blame for such incidents. Teachers want to improve their result whereas students are tense due to growing competition and unemployment. Schools also forget their responsibilities and fail to impart moral education and give maximum time to their academic performance. It is time to find ways to reduce tension faced by the younger generation.

Gobind Ahuja, Chandigarh

Change mindset

Sports make the mind and body healthy. Recent incidents that made headlines are alarming. Students need to be taught to stay away from bad habits, which lead to distraction. Heroic deeds need to be narrated to them. We need to change our mindset, which will automatically show good results. 

Opinder Kaur Sekhon, Chandigarh

Restore old traditions

It is the responsibility of parents to bring up their children in a disciplined manner. Often, it has been seen that wards of VIPs or influential parents are a pampered lot. In the school, the the guru–Shishya relationship has been lost forever. It is necessary to restore that relationship in some measure by inculcating moral values and hold regular teacher– parent meetings.

Tejinder Singh Kalra?, Mohali

Discuss students’ problems

All concerns raised by any student regarding a school policy, assignment or grading must be discussed. These types of discussion do not occur regularly with teachers. Maintaining good relationships among teachers and students is a winning proposition as it creates an environment where the real learning can take place.

Bhavesh Pahwa, Panchkula

Improve ways of teaching

School heads and teachers should give a talk on moral values to all students in the morning assembly. The parent-teacher meeting should not be made a horrible thing. It should lead to good suggestions and encouragement of students. The burden of a complaint should never be put on children. 

Sohan Lal Gupta, Patiala

Legal awareness needed

Students do not know consequences of such violent acts. It is not part of their school curriculum.  Frequent counselling and the use of soft language by teachers, parents and the administrative staff is a must. In place of punishment, we must tell them consequences of any wrong act. Legal awareness must be a part of the school syllabus. 

PK Patpatia, Ambala Cantt

Need parents’ cooperation

Though the traditional gurus might have become contemporary “sir or madam”, their role by and large remained the same.  They are still the guiding light, creating conditions conductive to the overall development of students. A lack of support for maintaining discipline and dedication from parents is the utmost setback for teachers. This can only be done with the help, support, cooperation and guidance of parents.

SK Khosla, Chandigarh

Joint effort may          improve situation

Teachers can make or mar young minds. Then why not wake up and be committed to the welfare of our children. Why can’t we be passionate about our roles at home and school?  Let teachers be parents to their students. Let parents be an extension of teachers at home. Once the mutual trust is built between students and teachers, they will touch your feet rather than raise their hand.

Madhu RD Singh, Ambala Cantt

Channelise children’s energies in right direction 

Violence by students is due to moral and social changes in addition to intolerance and rising frustration among teachers as well as students. The only way out is lies in changing the mindset, moral and social discipline besides a vigil on students by parents. Further, instead of using the physical force, students should be involved in sports and other healthy activities.

Jagdish Singh Jassal, Patiala   

COMMENT

Unite to build guru-shishya relationship

Nitin Jain

What’s wrong with our society? This question is again being asked after recent shocking incidents of a private school principal being shot dead in Yamunanagar, and a government schoolteacher getting punched in her nose in Chandigarh. In both cases reported last week, the culprits were none other than Class XII students. What is more disturbing is that one student was found to be in an inebriated state.

The student-teacher relationship, once believed to be one of the most pious and based on mutual respect, regard and trust, has, of late, come under strain and touched a new low with students going to the extent of killing their principals and assaulting their teachers in full public view. This certainly points towards the growing violent nature of the students. But why it is so? Who is to blame? These questions cry for answers.

Obviously, the onus lies on all concerned. No doubt the students are to be blamed and shamed for resorting to such violent acts against their teachers and principals, who earlier commanded more respect and regard than even the parents, but what makes them turn violent needs to be traced.

Until we work to build cordial relationship, the growing differences between the students and teachers are bound to grow. While there is a dire need for parents and teachers to understand the students, the issues faced by the latter also need to be addressed. In both recent violent acts, the students were reported to be aggrieved by their principal and the teacher, whom they attacked. Failure to address them led the situation to reach the deadly pass.

Besides inculcating moral values in the younger generation, improving their upbringing, lifestyle and company is of foremost importance. Last but not the least, those indulging in such violent acts need to be acted against sternly to send a strong message down the line. Parents, teachers and students should all join hands to build a strong bond of mutual respect, regard and trust ingrained in the true guru-shishya tradition.

Indiscipline, callousness to blame for violent incidents 

It would be very myopic to assume that the teacher-student bond is under any sort cloud. It is clearly a case of indiscipline and callousness that stems from a system gone wrong. Not only has the state failed in creating the fear of law and the repercussions of actions that break that law, society and families that have been unable to stem the rot that has crept in so deep, that it has turned into such a vicious demon that is destroying the very rubric of whatever culture, tradition and values that we had in the name of the guru-shishya parampara. Rage, violence, murder, losing control over oneself and abuse are signs of lawlessness. These current set of incidents are just a mere tip of the iceberg. It is time that all powers that be, look at the situation squarely in the eye. Somewhere each of us has to share the blame for allowing things to come to such a pass. We have laws for practically every single act of misdemeanour, but absolutely no way of ensuring they are enforced. It is time to put the fear of law in people’s minds and start teaching children the value of right and wrong, of being civil and courteous and most importantly getting them to learn to accept no.

Atul Khanna, Director, Strawberry Fields High School

Control ego, nobody has right to hurt others

These days, children have a fragile ego. They get offended easily. Psychologists have even called them “snowflake generation”. Tolerance level is down nowadays due to which impulsive behaviour is on the rise. We need to train children to think before acting but before that step, it is important for us not to encourage massive egos, which is the root cause of the problem. Parents must take encourage inflated sense of uniqueness in children. Of course, we all are unique, but that doesn’t give us the right to hurt others.

Mitika Kanwar, Assistant Professor, Psychology, PGCGC-11

Focus on value-based education, learn from the past

We need to focus on value-based education and channelising energies of students in the right direction as their attention is divided. For improving the teacher-student relationship, we need to look in the ancient times. Parents are not able to give time to their children. There are no counsellors in schools and teachers are also under pressure. There is pressure of the material world on children. They have so much exposure these days. But do we have a dialogue with our children? Education has become a competition. We are