I was reading the morning news paper, when I heard the little angel next to my house crying. I went up to her and asked why she was crying? And the answer hurt me a lot. Her teacher would punish her for not doing the home work. I was surprised, but then managed to console the child and send her to school. The one fact that irritated me was why should the child be punished if the home work was not done or even if the child was disobedient! What is the point in punishing; it will only terrify the child. In countries like USA and some more there are child rights which protect a child from cruel punishments. But many countries do not have such laws, and hence there is corporal punishment. I do understand , that though a teacher may be driven crazy when the students don’t listen to her/him, she/he have no right to indulge in corporal punishment or any other form of punishment which would wreck the student emotionally or physically. The question here could be should the teachers accept disobedience? I am not suggesting that disobedience be accepted but instead students be counseled such that they not repeat. Instead of providing corporal punishment, community service could be allotted. Some other alternatives are to forgive them a few times and then talk to parents, learn if the student is facing any behavioral problems/learning disabilities or so on. I heard this somewhere; a student was being very disobedient. The teacher decided it was time the student learnt a lesson. All that she did was “role reversal”. After few days, the student understood the trauma faced by the teacher and abstained from indulging into disobedient acts! Care and love are always better than a whip.

Children are tested so that they can be graded and they can be tested, But how many institutes grade their teaching staff without any politics? I wonder why there has never been a system which regularly evaluates teachers? Teachers must be questioned not only on the subjects that they handle but also on the day to day affairs. This will show the effectiveness of a teacher to keep himself updated. A teacher who is bookish can never impart excellent knowledge to children. Secondly, the teacher must also be tested on other skills like social ones, manners, behavior and so on. Children tend to grasp a lot from teachers and it becomes necessary that the teacher must be a principled man himself. The results of the tests must reflect on their pay packets and promotions. This will encourage the teachers to participate in the tests earnestly. Rewards can be utilized to lure any man, isn’t it? The primary objective of testing teachers is not to prove them incapable but to make them competitive because only competitive teachers can drive students to be highly competitive in all aspects. So if you think I was mocking at teachers, I beg to differ as my sole aim of testing teachers is to make them more effective which would bring better results in the students. Testing always ensures that people work hard and try to do the best in their work.

Our education system must be of inclusive nature. This will provide an amicable situation for children to learn. It focuses more on disability and special educational needs. What is inclusive education? It is about refusal to accept segregation based on physical ability, gender, race, status, language, ethnic origin and so on. It also means that inclusive schools are open to all students and satisfy all student needs. It is not that easy as it sounds. It is a continuing process and the system needs to be strengthened over time. The teachers play a very important role in inclusive education. They need to develop games and syllabi which are competitive and also accommodate the interests of all the participating parties. There are many reasons to adopt inclusive education. It promotes human rights, good education and good social sense. One teacher who supports inclusive education raised a very interesting question during the age old debate on inclusive education. Her question was, “Are we trying to protect children from each other by encouraging segregated schools?” Inclusive education is known to build friendships and remove any sort of fear. I believe inclusive education is the step towards tolerance and is the means to an efficient education system.