It is in the wake of the appalling suicide of a nineth-grader from Musaeus College, a leading Buddhist Girls` School in Colombo that I write this article. Reportedly, consequent to the confiscation of her cellular phone by the school authorities on the ground that she`d violated school discipline, the girl had committed suicide by hanging herself within the school premises itself. Although one may dismiss this as a stupid act by an impulsive teenager, still her suicide raises serious concerns about the government school teachers` ability to handle disciplinary matters effectively.
First, it is important to assess the situation or the circumstances that led to this tragic event. What really happened? How did her phone happen to be impounded? Was it only her mobile phone that was seized on this occasion? How did the school authorities react upon their discovery? What happened after the seizure of her cellular phone? Was a scene a created? Was she criticized in public (in front of her peers)? Was she humiliated? Did they threaten to humiliate her? Who were the other stakeholders involved? Who made the decision to impound her phone? Was she insulted? Was she administered corporeal punishment? Was her privacy respected? Was this the first time that a student`s phone was captured and impounded at this school? Are the school authorities trying to cover up this incident?
Cellular phones are said to be among the banned items in the government schools. I`ve also heard that it is common practice among government school teachers to confiscate students` mobile phone with an eye to dissuading them from bringing and using them in the classroom or in the school premises in general. In this particular case, apparently, the girl in question had infringed school discipline. But, why did the mere confiscation of her cellular phone drive her to kill herself? Government schools, I know, are practically infested with stupid teachers who continue to persist in the belief that verbal and/or physical abuse of students may keep them from erring or misbehaving. It is time that those who train teachers disabuse them and give them a basic training in child and teenage psychology. Or else, they will continue engage themselves in the noble task of producing wimps and brutes in the school! In this case, I suspect there`s something that`s deliberately being kept from media. I remember an English weekly last Sunday reporting that they were not allowed to talk to the dead girl`s friends or teachers by the school authorities. It seems to me that besides the school`s reputation, something else too is at stake. I speculate so because I certainly doubt if a trivial incident like this would force a kid to take her own life.
A more serious problem that this particular incident has brought to light is whether our children`s self esteem is so poor. Is their self-esteem so low that just because they are reprimanded or punished for some fault they take such extreme measures as to kill themselves, which is necessarily the supreme folly? If it is, then it`s a serious issue and we must take prompt action to help them build their self-esteem. They must be taught that making mistakes is part of the learning process which is no shorter than life. They should understand that they have made an error and have been punished for that is not the end of the world. None other than the famous author and philosopher, Dale Carnegie say most of us, young and old alike so exceedingly err that we`re almost always wrong more than 50% of our time. To put it more directly, we are all damned fools (don`t blink Sir/Madam, you are no exception!) more than half of our time. Sadly, most teachers in government schools seem to think that they`re infallible and seem to have forgotten how they themselves behaved while they were children. This simple fact is at the root of the most problems where students do not see eye to eye with teachers or vice versa. Also, they must have the horse-sense to see that a 14 year old bringing her cellular phone into the classroom is not the blackest sin in the world. If some simpleton(s) say(s) that it`s the gravest error she could have done, the kindest thing I can tell them is to go to hell.
This is both an unprecedented and an unfortunate incident. It should be ensured that incidents like this are never going to recur. Therefore, I call upon the relevant authorities to start an objective investigation into her suicide and find out the true causes that led to this tragic event. If school authorities have abused their power and authority and acted high-handedly, they must be punished, and severely. Also, if by covering up the true details of this incident, the school authorities try to protect someone, possibly a teacher or a group of teachers, they should all be brought to the book. Under any circumstances, nobody, nobody at all should be allowed to save face at the expense of a child`s life. Educational authorities, including Minister of Education himself must be aware that we, as the informed citizens of this country, are keenly watching the developments in the education sector and are completely intolerant of this sort of happenings. If something can`t be done, such impotency on the part of Educational authorities and on the part of law-enforcement authorities will disappoint the public, and worse, will prove disastrous in the long run.
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