Teacher murdered by a 9th standard student: SHOCKING

My god where is the world going? There was another news item - A teenager committed suicide due to the pressure given by studies. His parents expected him to become a state topper in 10th exams while he was an average student. They had locked him up in a room before till he got the right answer for a question . What/whom to be blamed? out education system or our expectations?

 

Very shocking to know about this news.

Each and every teachers should be very careful in handling students,if this goes like this how we can see respect from future kids even parents should be careful not scolding or saying any words against them like western countries....
By seeing this boy's behavior others will take this as a protection......and think this is the solution.My god no words to tell more than this......

 

Its high time parents should understand that marks are not the complete outcome of education. The student still can make a decent livelihood without good marks. What happens to the 10th state toppers not all shine in 12th too. There is no consistency. Also, learning should be made the motto of education not scoring good marks. Not all the toppers can make others understand a concept in the subjects. Only a consistent performance should be highlighted and more exposure for learning and bringing out should be brought.

 

A 15 year old boy murders his teacher and it becomes sensational news that it gets discussed in all the schools, the teachers talk to the kids stating, we have your best interests in our minds, so don't go to extreme measures, and so far I have not heard a single child, or a parent telling me, that the teachers were trying to reach out to the kids, saying that they can come and talk to them when they are depressed, angered. this goes to say a lot more than what is not said.

Did i say the boy was right in doing this, absolutely not. we still do not know the actual reason why he went to that extreme, as i am not willing to accept it was just a simple note that led to this. it was premeditated and he has been carrying the knife for 3 days and wouldn't any of his other classmates have a clue.the initial buzz should go down for a clearer picture. already the ripple that came across to me is that the teacher had made un wanted comments about his family especially his sisters..(which i don't know for sure). but that is a possiblity i am not going to rule out.

Coming to my views, i would like to share this but also with a disclaimer, that these are just mine..

1. today as parents, we cosset our kids to the extent that they are over sensitive that they cannot take a remark as it should be taken towards a positive improvement.
2. gone are the days when parents would reprimand the kids who talk ill of their teachers. for example..
son : mom today my science teacher scolded..
Mom:athukku vera velai illai. (IT does not have any other work)
son : amamam engala savadikkudhu.. (yes, she is killing me)
Can you guess what would be the age of the kid in this, it was 9years and i was a listener to this conversation. i felt very bad for the teacher, but felt so raw inside for the kid, who was being guided this way. the parent was teaching him to react negatively.. instead if she were to look at both the sides of the issue, why did she scold, did she scold this child specifically, or the whole class.
You need to teach the child that guru is somebody you should respect. agreed guru's can be wrong, but we parents and gurus can make mistake, but the respect that needs to be given should always be there.

coming to the teachers, though i say respect a guru, few from this group really take away the cake.

I have seen a teacher scold the kids so badly in front of the public. (by kids i mean 16-17years) that i had tears in my eyes. the kids just peeped out of their classrooms to check out the girls who were passing by. i know it was wrong of the kids, but the teacher should have understood that it was the age and should have joked about it or quipped in and diverted their attention back to the class. instead it was such a foul language that was used by HER, and a colorful one at that..( it was in the local language, and i have not heard that type of words in the labour class too..)

I know of other teachers, who make it a point to harass the child to the extent the child commits suicide. if a parent were to complain about the teacher to the principal even under confidentiality (what is that!!!?) the child gets targetted. there are parents who silently change schools, there are other who suffer in silence in fear of the marks and the child being emotionally harassed.

I think i have written about this case, where a kid wrote an essay that was not upto the mark, the teacher had written so many comments on the sidelines, the child was embarassed to get the signature of the parents, that he had written his suicide note on the last page of the same sheet and hanged himself.

Coming to the teenager who comitted suicide (though many still wonder if it is a murder) in calcutta this week, according to his teachers, he was the la creme in his academics, according to his parents he was not lacking for anything. when they say lacking for nothing does it mean materialistically. are we as parents overlooking something beyond that?



What blatantly glares at you as a parent/human, is that tolerance has gone down on all sides. we are a batch of people who want human bonsai. be it teachers, they do not have patience to nurture and mold the children into better individuals. parents do not have the patience, to understand and assimilate what is happening in the lives of their kiddos( not all but there is a bigger percentage). we want well behaved, well trained, good marks scoring, a child whom we are proud of.we would put pressure to any extent. We tend to overlook a lot of things. peer pressure. the socio-economic pressure, the expectations of people around them. WE as adults who have a responsibility towards the future citizens of this world, sometimes, overlook, the gut instinct that tells us that there is something troubling the kid, because we are not ready to venture into the unknown. (sometimes, some of the troubles/ problems our kids have are something we cannot imagine having faced during our times.)

The other day, i was at this reception, were i had to sit beside a teacher, whom i had met during the engagement. There was a musical troup performing and there were kids who were demanding the song kolaveri.. and i was shocked at the vehement comments that she passed..

adhaan we have seen your kolaveri, and innum ethanai pera kola panna poraelo.. that goes to say that we are not able to isolate an incident and give only so much importance that it needs.instead painting the whole scene with the same brush.

I wish there were more anger/stress management classes for teachers. and they go through periodic counselling. i do understand that teachers especially private school teachers are pushed and pushed to achieve results, (education is a business and results are to be displayed on news papers just like your financial results at the end of the academic years:rant:rant)

i see the rude comments posted on the news sites that carried the articles
for both the incidents.incase of the kolkatta student, maybe he was gay..
in case of the student murdering the teacher, there were so many out there talking about abusive teachers, and few talking about depression and about the need for counselling as a child enters teenage and i so agree to the need of counselling at school. many may argue did we have one, i would counter, did we have the same pressure, absolutely no. we never needed to stand 20 hours in queue for a lkg application form in a mediocre school. today, the schools state we do 25%, the student does 50% and the parent does 25%. I still remember my teachers telling my parents, don't worry we will take care..(I have changed 7 schools for my daughter who is in xi today, and have heard this only once..)

Well i can go on and on about the education system needing a total makeover, but it is never going to happen. we can take the case of usa and uk, or any other country as a role model..but we need models that suit the democracy and a over exploding population that is present in INDIA. unless, the fear to be the best, and the survival of the fittest goes out of the equation, education will remain the same, and so will the pressure to perform, deliver be pushing the parents, teachers and children alike.

The balance needs to come from within all of us.. we need to come to an acceptance that not all can get 100%. and when we do that, the pressure goes down. the cutoffs at the colleges will go down..(last year the cut off at shriram college was 100% for a b.com seat)..

let me stop here..

 

Ok Could not stop. if this was shocking, what would you describe the incident that took place in another school were one of the teachers, prodded and made a student attack another teacher with whom she had a score to settle.

we come across so much SExual abuse from teachers, that gets to be underplayed. i am sure i have seen a few posted in our forums. there have been teachers who have been exploiting girls for almost 10 years before one of the girls had the courage to open up.

there was this news item that was posted here too, the lady principal and another teacher forcing girls into the act. they were lesbians and the kids were forced to cater to them. this happened in india and in the so called very conservative state tn and in a rural school.

i hear people say, we have seen a guy picking up a gun and razing down students and teachers alike in US, but never thought a child can wield a knife in india. Open your ears..don't get carried by the media which would go to any extent to increase its TRP ratings..

Why doesn't the media give the same importance where the teachers' behaviour, rude statements, harassment has pushed kids to suicide.

a Girl who goes to school letting her hair down, when the uniform suggest it should be plaited and tied up gets her locks chopped off.. it happens only IN INDIA.

A student who disturbs a physics lab gets electric shock as punishment only in INDIA.

THIS post is not to justify the student nor the teachers, it is about the need to look beyond the act, to find the real crux and real solution to the problems.

 

Well said, Shanthi!

Even I read in one of the comments (not sure how far it is true) that the teacher had made some unwanted remarks which had hurt the guy.But still the guy should not have gone to take such extreme steps.When we were in school , we have seen so many atrocities including teacher pointing out to people of his group saying "antha ponnunga pasanga ellam padikkirra paaruda, unnale enda mudiyala" (when those people can study why not you) .Actually they used to insult the ones who are studying well too.Unfortunately I(and a lot of my classmates who got good marks and who did not fall into "his group" of people) fell in that category of "studying well" and had to undergo a lot of snide remarks when I got district first.And all the comments coming from teachers.We were shattered hearing the comment from teachers but all our parents had made sure that we do not pay heed to all such idiotic comments.

I still remember the incident when my friend had to kneel down in basket ball court under scorching sun just because she told good morning to a teacher with left hand.She had a lot of things in her hand to carry and by mistake she had told good morning to the teacher with left hand.And our basket ball court was very near to the railway track where every passenger will have a view.

We had a lot of rage/shame/anger inside us but we had the patience and were taught those days that whatever the teacher says is good.Though they used to make ruthless remarks, we used to crave for acceptance and appreciation from them thinking that they can never be wrong and it is our duty to please them.We used to take the abuse silently.Yes, that had hit our confidence to a large extent I should say.It took a lot many years to build the required confidence after we came out of our town.

This guy I think is a spoilt kid too.I read in one of the comment that though his parents are daily wagers , they used to give him 100 Rs as pocket money.If that is the case, even the parents are to be blamed here.They pamper the kids so much and give in to all the demands which makes them weak minded.

And I think it is high time we change the way we teach our children.Marks are not the only criteria.They need to develop their personality as well when they grow up.I read in one of the article that our current education system was designed by the Britishers solely to make Clerks and peons(for Indians of course) for their administration.This system is not good enough to bring out the leader in us or to develop ourselves as a whole.

 

It is blood chilling case. That boy was carrying a knife and waiting for good chance for 3 days itseems ! See how much planning in that little brain! And nobody noticed , how horrible. All fault of violent movies only. And over spoiling by parents. In all movies they show it is very heroism to become violent to revenge any hurt . Like it is something great .

 

bhuvana, great to be here. i know where you are coming from. having been at the receiving end of snide remarks for studying well category, arrogant, headstrong..whatever. it takes a lot of guts to face all that and emerge stronger. that is what i am trying to convey, the guy went to the extreme, because we are in a age, where media very casually shows how a person was murdered, if it was not clear, we have animated, illustrated versions giving you clear picture of how it was done. even with a knife, you are only to touch the button and you have the the best way to slash a guy, to stab a person to prove fatal, the type of knife. did we not learn that anything in excess was poison. i believe today information at the finger tip is a two edged sword. unless we teach our children to use it with care and respect, we are in for more such situations.

talk about parents spoiling the kids. i know kids who do not come to school without 500rs in their pockets. last month i was at a sport meet. the daughter (10th) came to the mother to ask for some money to buy ice cream (i assume) she gave her 200rs. the child still stands with her hand put forward, the mother puts another 200rs into her hand without questioning. i still wonder if the parent was so confident that her daughter will not misuse, or was she really bothered what the rest of us parents will think if she refused, or if the child would start a verbal spat irrespective of other parents standing because all the 3 are possible with today's kids.

I sometimes wonder if physical punishment as kneeling down or a single hit from a cane is better than the verbal/emotional abuse that the teachers are refuging in because of the rule that physical punishment is banned. bhuvana, yes it real hurts when you are physically punished, but i feel the emotional harassment is what leads to more scars, more anger, pent up. i know many kids around hoard up hatred towards a few teachers. i also see so many kids saying the kid was right in using a knife, and if given an opportunity and if there were no repercussion of their act, they would not hesitate to use the same. so where are we going wrong.

Even today the kids need the same acceptance and appreciation bhuvana. then it was not so tedious for the teachers to give it to us when they knew we have worked hard for it. but today can we blame them, with 70 students and sections upto L, we need to appreciate that they remember our kids' names. I am against abuse, but respect is a mutual thing, and it should be earned and not given because they are your elders. infact my daughter told me this once recently when i told her that he is your elder and you have to give respect. "Mom, respect is to be earned, if age is directly proportional to the respect, than even criminals who are seving their term in jail are to be given respect, so i disagree". i am sure i could never have spoken so clear about what i feel in front of my parents..and to disagree.. so i just wanted to state this to show, we have come a long way. at 10, kids today are more clear about what they want, their decision making powers are far better than us. (well exceptions are always there)

bhuvana daily wages is not cheap. pocket money is the parent's prerogative. but to teach responsiblity the child has towards, the society, the parents, is something that comes with time.but i believe we need to teach kids, that they have a responsiblity to SELF, to respect their body, their emotional health. they need to understand that there is no problem out there without a solution and there is no easy way out. and everything comes with a price. the value of money should be taught. no wonder india is going toward becoming a spending nation..the pocket money issue has been around for almost a decade.. i believe parents have a big responsibility. to abide by laws, not to give vehicles to kids who are 12. i see a lot of 12-15 year olds driving scootys, bikes. to keep periodic contacts with the teachers to know how their child is performing..not only studies but behavioral changes, I am sure if the parents had been to the regular parent teachers meeting, they would have had a clue (wishful thinking??)

As I said a few times before, we are all in the process of developing robot clones. we would not mind shelling out hard earned money to some institutions to put a few letter at the back of our kiddo's name.only if we took time to sit with him and understand, maybe he would be happy starting of his grocery shop with the amount we shell to a certain inst.. it is not necessary that all the best educated earn well, or all the well earning people are the best educated. education is only a path that you go through in becoming a better human..but today the concept, the definition of education has changed. until we change we are not going to see the change..

 

Typically, most of us have cerain inhibitions which stop us no matter how angry we are...in this case it has to be a culmination of several factors.

I liked your last para shanthi...one of the +ves of universal education is that kids have greater opportunities-they are not restricted to family trades. But with universal education comes the need to be prepared for all kinds of learning styles, and an opportunity to provide vocational training as well. There is no shame in learning a trade...and that too should pay well. But we tend to go from one extreme to the other...

Teachers don't have the training to adapt to the different needs. Only last month I was in two diferent schools-one which serves children from the lower middle class and another for the super rich with aazing on campus facilities. In the first school, as I sat talking to the principal, one fo the teachers hit a child-in front og his grandmother! The grandma naturally brought him in to the office-and the poor kid had the teacher's hand imprinted on his face. The reason was because he didn't move quickly enough out of the classroom!!! The principal asked the teacher, and her response was, "Oh these are all small issues. you shouldn't make a big deal of it!" I am not makng this up. The principal's daughter and I both joined together to get the principal to do something about this kind of behavior. WE used the "think of the bad publicity you'd get if word got out" card because there was no awareness that this kind of teacher behavior needs to be stopped.

I work with a parent at the second school...her child is very anxious and of course, the teacher hits her! I explained to the mom that my sympathies were with the kid and she says, "I can agree with you but I am afraid that if I complain that it will get worse for her." She is in a soup either way! In both cases management doesn't want to deal with the teacher's behavior. The only thing which seems to work is 'bad publicity.' So it always a case of quick fixes in dealing with a problem rather than prevention through proper training and procedures.

 

Really it is a shocking news