If this is a ‘minor incident’, I hate to see what a major one looks like:
A teacher of a co-ed government school in Gaighata in North 24-Parganas took off the leggings of a 13-year-old girl in the classroom on Wednesday because she was not in proper uniform. The girl wept and pleaded but the teacher allegedly did not return it even after school was over, forcing her to walk home in a semi-clad state.
Headmaster Swapan Bala dismissed it as a “minor incident”. “We came to know of it only a day later. It is not a serious matter. Some people are unnecessarily making an issue out of it. The teacher has apologized. We shall take a final decision on Friday,” Bala said on Thursday.
If the Principal and teacher were stripped of their clothing in public, would that be a ‘minor incident’ too? (I am not advocating this of course, I am just trying to make a point!)
Tags: Dignity, Education, Education Uniform Policy, Girl stripped in class for not wearning school uniform, Headmaster Swapan Bala, News, Should schools have uniforms?, Teacher bullying students, teacher of co-ed government school in Gaighata, teacher takes off leggings of a 13-year-old girl, Uniform, Uniform Debate
Topical Teaching 
June 29, 2012 at 12:13 pm |
At best it was a misguided response. At worst it doesn’t bear thinking about. How can you know a person’s motives? Sometimes we can’t even be certain about our own motives. Working with children is fraught with pitfalls. The best policy is not to touch students in any way (barring the need to provide first aid in the case of injury). Little children will sometimes spontaneously hug a teacher or an aide they like and respect. Don’t look for it. Don’t reject it. Don’t initiate it. The older the children the less likely it is to happen. There is a line, sometimes blurred, but there nevertheless IS a line that must not be crossed. Any teacher or aide who initiates unnecessary physical contact with a child has crossed that line.