Enable teachers to discipline children

You never think the other sides of them until you get affected/attacked by the same one day.

Only then that you start experiencing the other side/sides of them. May be you are too late by then. But it will be too late for a nation to see how the country’s child community gets destroyed in the name of child/children’s rights. It is very interesting to see what our teacher community has to say about child rights. It is interesting because they speak about their own experiences which reflect the gloomy future of our child community. Since almost all media, other state and private institutions promote child rights it is important to give space to the teachers’ voice.

Indiscipline

According to some school teachers attached to state schools countrywide, child rights have become a plague and the latest instrument of parents and children to misbehave and harass the teachers. Nowadays the children rarely listen to the teachers and follow their orders.

Parents get involved even for a minor thing. This is not a healthy trend to build a disciplined future generation. Today we have an adult generation which obeys the country’s law because of the discipline they received as schoolchildren decades ago. Promoting child rights is good but what if Sri Lanka is going to have a indisciplined future generation? Children can only be guided to the right direction until they are being children. After they turn 18 or 21 no one can guide them because the present young generation is more advanced than the past generations in both good and bad ways. They obey no one.

Therefore, the parents and teachers should be able to guide the children on the correct path without fear while they are children. The child rights should be safeguarded within the traditional Sri Lankan culture which built many well disciplined generations in the history.

“You know.....now the children and parents do not have any respect for the teachers like in the past. What they want to do is drag you into the courts for nothing and get some money from you. So better to do your job, get the salary and go home. Why get in to trouble by trying to discipline schoolchildren? Doesn’t matter even if they become criminals or whoever in the future.”

Inviting trouble

The important thing is to do your job, get the salary and go home. There is no reason to invite trouble, tarnish your image and face never ending court cases. “Why should we discipline children and get accused for hitting even when we advise them strictly?” This is what the majority of the schoolteachers think today. More than a handful of teachers have expressed this in public on several occasions.

There is a very beautiful pond located in a temple. The temple was full of devotees who observed sil and there were around ten to fifteen children last Poya Day. The parents and guardians of those children were also there. From morning till evening the children destroyed all the flowers and trees and filled the pond with garbage. The parents just enjoyed themselves and relaxed without uttering a word to their children. What the parents were doing was observing sil in the temple without taking the responsibility of their own children.

The beautiful pond became a tank of muddy garbage by evening leaving a heavy load of work for the Bhikkus and other persons in the temple.

Misbehave

Unfortunately most of the parents don’t know to use the word ‘No’ to their stubborn children. We have seen how children misbehave in public places such as buses, hospitals, supermarkets and similar places causing problems for others. Most of the time parents just act like they are deaf or blind. When the kids cause damage to valuable properties, the parents say since its done by a kid the owner should bear up the loss. This is ridiculous and unacceptable.

The situation is completely different in foreign countries. There parents make sure that their kids do not disturb others while using public transport and public places. They even don’t let a baby cry in a bus. But here in our country kids misbehave in the presence of their own parents.

Many parents will not be happy to read this column today and may disagree. But this is the bitter reality of our society. When child rights add to this situation we cannot expect a well disciplined future generation. Therefore we have to adopt a very clear policy, rules and regulations when it comes to promoting child rights and enabling school teachers to discipline children.