Moral policing in the name of discipline?

By Chinnaa

Greetings from Chinnaa!

The media, both electronic and print, in Tamil Nadu recently reported an event, in which a girl student of a government higher secondary school from Maraimalainagar, about 30 kilometres south of Chennai, was corporally punished by one of her teachers, a woman by herself.

The punishment was an instant hair-cut by the teacher in question in the school premises, presumably with the concurrence of other teachers including the headmaster. The crime was that the girl did not comb the hair as two pigtails as prescribed in the discipline rules; rather she came with a single pigtail.

Subsequently the teacher got the girl, giving in writing that the latter did the cutting by her self, which was denied by her father. Thanks to the media exposure and the timely intervention by educational authorities, the teacher was suspended and the headmaster transferred.

One can definitely agree to the fact that similar or more harmful incidents are happening in every other Indian State in the country; some of these may be still worse! Degree and amount of the crime may differ but not the occurrence itself.

Behold, the girl and her parents had the guts to go public through police complaint and press briefing, the matter came to light. Imagine the gullible ones who, out of fear of rejection and other punishments including public humiliation, do not report but digest unwillingly.

Bearing with this type of onslaughts from educational institutions has become a necessary evil to students and parents. For, students and parents are always at the receiving end in an educational system which has become highly commercialized and inhumanly institutionalized.

One may wonder what this is all about! Or to put it another way, ‘what does the present educational system give in terms of value and moral education to the wards?’ and ‘why does a student put up with this kind of treatment in addition to a hefty payment in the form of quality education fees and capitation fees?’

The attitude and behaviour of educational personnel, with a back up from their powerful institutions and a high competition for English medium education, are not up to the mark. These are rather below average and uncivilized to the core.

In many instances, sheer arrogance of personnel of educational institutions, welcomes students and parents with this kind of negative attitude. This is apparent and acute during admission time. This is to suggest as if these personnel were in- born educational gods, without whose grace the mankind will not be resurrected!

Down with the attitude of these self-appointed moral police and disciplinarians!.