Are
we matured enough for acknowledging the issues in Education system |
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15-yr-old
Chennai boy stabs teacher to death in classroom |
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CHENNAI: A Class IX student of a
Chennai school stabbed his teacher to death in a classroom on 9th February 2012 morning. Police quoted the 15-year-old boy
(TOI is withholding his identity as he is a minor) as saying that he was
under pressure after the teacher repeatedly sent adverse remarks to his
parents. |
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Shock and fear gripped St Mary's
Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School on Armenian Street in Parrys, a
middle-class neighbourhood, as the student, son of a customs clearing agency
employee, repeatedly stabbed his Hindi teacher Uma Maheshwari. |
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The 41-year-old woman, who taught
science and Hindi for classes IX and X, was in a classroom on the first
floor, awaiting students for a special class at 11.40am when the boy attacked
her. "He walked in with a knife wrapped in paper," a student told
TOI. "He stabbed her first in the neck, then thrice more in the chest
and abdomen." |
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A police officer said the juvenile
offender was worried that he would not be promoted to class X. "He said
he was upset that his teacher kept complaining to his father about his
underperformance in Hindi. His father had met the teacher last Monday,"
the officer said. Investigators said the boy bought the knife from a shop
near his house and took it to school on Tuesday and Wednesday too. He was
waiting for an opportunity to attack her. "He kept the knife in his bag,
waiting for an opportunity. He couldn't attack the teacher as she was always
with some students the last couple of days. On Thursday, she was alone in a
classroom when he stabbed her," the police officer said. |
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A colleague of teacher Uma Maheshwari
said it was a free period at 11.30am and the teacher had volunteered to take
a special class for students with Hindi as the second language. "There
were just six students who were to attend the class. The boy went to the
classroom with the knife before the other students reached there, and
attacked her," Maheshwari's colleague said. |
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Other students who were coming for
the class saw their teacher slumped in a pool of blood and the attacker with
the knife. When they tried to nab him, he brandished the knife, threatening
to attack them, said an eyewitness. Hearing their cries, more students and
teachers rushed to the classroom and overpowered him before calling police.
School administrator Fr Bosco Periyanayagam said the student did not attempt
to escape. |
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Police recovered the blood-soaked
knife from the boy and arrested him on charges of murder. The student's
schoolmates said the boy was not aggressive by nature, but had been aloof.
"He never mingled with others," a student said. His neighbours too
said he has been a quiet child. "The boy would leave for school in his
father's car and come back in an autorickshaw. He would not step out or play
with other children in the neighbourhood," said a shopkeeper near his
house. The victim, Maheshwari, is a relative of Nanjil Kumaran, a former
police commissioner of Chennai. |
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Student
stabs teacher for scolding him, escapes |
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VIRUDHUNAGAR (TAMIL NADU): A Class 9
student of a private school in south Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar stabbed his
mathematics teacher, Pandiarajan, for scolding him for coming late to class
on 30th
October 2012. |
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The boy then ran away from the school
and remained on the run. Pandiarajan, who suffered an injury in his back, has
been admitted to a government hospital and his condition is stated to be
stable. "We have searched his house and asked his parents to inform us
if he telephones them or visits home," said a police officer. |
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Pandiarajan had been scolding the boy
for the past two days for his unpunctuality. But he ignored warnings and
again came to school late on Tuesday. Pandiarajan pulled him up for
repeatedly coming late to school. After scolding him, Pandirajan turned to
walk away when the boy pulled out a knife that he had brought with him and
stabbed him in the back. |
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Pandiarajan collapsed on the ground.
Even as the stunned students in the class looked on helplessly, the boy
escaped from the school. Fellow teachers rushed to the classroom hearing the
noise and rushed Pandiarajan to the hospital. "We do not know whether it
was a knife or some other instrument. But from the narration of the teacher
and the students it appears that the boy had planned the attack," said a
police officer. |
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The alarming frequency of incidents
of students threatening or attacking teachers have become a cause of concern
for the teaching community in Tamil Nadu. |
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Within a week, two XII students at
Narikudi in Virudhunagar district were arrested and charged under the
Juvenile Justice Act for threatening a teacher with a knife. Two days later,
a group of students in a Kanyakumari school brandished a knife at a teacher
and threatened him with dire consequences if he scolded them. |
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Source
: Times of India |
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Is
there any possible step that can be taken to avoid this kind of horrendous
incidents? |
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First of all let us look out for a
logical reason for the mind of a student to take a drastic action like this.
Since it is fundamental analysis needed to understand the cause and effect of
any action. |
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1. Students Hate studies: If we conduct a survey we may come to know
that the maximum number of students will fall in this category. Small
percentage of students is inclined towards studies and if we analyze deeper
we will surely know that all the subjects are not interesting to every
student. If we follow this angle then
it is sure that dislike in studies will not be the primary cause for this. |
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2. Students Hate
Teachers:
Let us categorize teachers to different types say |
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Category A: Teaches well and Lenient
towards students |
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Category B: Teaches bad and Lenient
towards students |
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Category C: Teaches well and strict
towards students |
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Category D: Teaches bad and strict
towards students |
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In
the above categorization A & B are likely to be liked by students. |
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C
may not be liked by the students .D may be in hate category. |
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3. Student’s thoughts
influenced by Parents: Let us categorize parents
to different types say |
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Category A: Shows love and affection
and teaches good moral & ethics |
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Category B: Strict and teaches good
moral & ethics |
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Category C: Shows love and affection
and doesn’t teach good moral & ethics |
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Category D: Strict and doesn’t teach
good moral & ethics |
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In
the above categorization A & B are likely not to be disturbed by other
social influences. |
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Chances
of C category being disturbed are more compared with A & B and D may be
in a danger zone of disturbed mind. |
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4. Peer Pressure: Like minds join together, but where the case of extreme
disagreement in thought is noticed there will be disapproval from the peer
itself. Probability of peer pressure
being the reason for these incidents is negligible. |
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5. School Targets: Let
us categorize schools to different types say |
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Category A: Work towards knowledge, moral building of
students and focus on school results |
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Category B: Work towards knowledge, moral building of
students and do not focus on results |
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Category C: Do not Work towards knowledge, moral
building and focus on results |
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Category D: Do not Work towards knowledge, moral
building and do not focus on results |
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In
the above categorization A & B are likely not to be the cause for any
issue with the student attitude towards teachers and society. |
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Chances
of C & D category being disturbed is more compared with A & B. |
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Bearcat’s
View on the situation: |
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Human mind is very complex one and
the output will not be the same even if same inputs are passed to each
individual. |
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Nowadays School operates like
business entity and the students pass percentage if less than 100 then they
consider that they have not performed well.
It has
become a race and in this race students are the scapegoats, they have to work
towards the target of the school. In this whole episode of completing one
year of schooling by the student there is no time for the school,
Management, teachers, parents to understand the taste of
students, interests, likes, dislikes. |
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In the west students are asked to
write articles / essays of any topic they are interested, based on the
written note they evaluate whether the student is able to express themselves,
their topic of interest, Is there any serious hindrance in continuing studies
due to family circumstances etc. Any strange written note will be analyzed
and proper counseling / corrective action is taken. In Indian context essay
writing is also considered as a part of test paper, and guides / notes are
provided to students so that they can mug up what someone has written. There is no outlet to the students. |
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There is an opportunity for school /
teachers to air their views, about performance of students during Open Day(s)
to the parents. |
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Is there any One single day
in whole of the schooling to hear about students views related to what a
student think about the school, Management, Teachers, staff, playground,
their hobbies, likes, dislikes?????? |
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Be honest to yourself and ask the
question ‘Atleast Have we ever thought about this of
asking a student about his/her views and thoughts’. |
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Consider Students as a pressurized
vessel and there is no outlet to this pressure vessel. This vessel works very
well and one in million cases it fails and once we hear the news we criticize
current student’s behavior, teachers and schools and forget the situation in
few days. Have we understood the root cause of this issue? Can we prevent
this from happening? |
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First Step - Do we
acknowledge that there exists an issue? |
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Second
Step -
Have we analyzed and found the root cause of the issue? |
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Third
Step -
Are we determined to tackle the issue? |
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Fourth Step - If we are not
able to handle the issue, is our mind open to bring an expert |
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from outside
and check for new ideas? |
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Fifth Step - Whether we
worked and put a fool proof system in place? |
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Sixth Step - Do we monitor
and check the feedback from the system? |
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If these are followed whatever the
problem be, but the school would have got a better control over the system. |
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By |
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Bearcat
BOB |
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