Oliver Lyngdoh recalls his school days while throwing a few questions at teachers
WALKING THAT familiar road, climbing those steps, seeing the oh-so-familiar sights from my place to the place I studied four years back, I can’t help but recall and regale the fun times I had as a schoolboy.
The pranks I pulled, the stories I made up to sound cool among my peers and the adventures me and my friends had-and that too in our uniforms!
We were a handful back then. Breaking rules just so teachers would recognize us, taking part in activities that were not suited for our capabilities just for the sake of them. To remember a few- the singing competition, the marathon, the relay and of how can any of my friends forget the shot-put event!
As I neared my old school building I thought of entering the halls one more time and breathe in the air that was ‘School’; but of course like any other pass-out student, I thought better and stuck to the task at hand. I picked up my brother from school and as was his habit asked me to carry his school bag.
Now I might be growing old, or maybe I’m just not acquainted with carrying a school bag anymore but I nearly broke my hand because when I took the bag my brother handed to me I considered it to be light. But No! It was heavy! I actually raised my voice and enquired my brother if he had snuck an encyclopaedia from the school library to take home!
Of course that wasn’t the case. He told me that his daily routine consisted of that many books.
At first I was apprehensive so I asked his friends to let me take a look at their bags; unsurprisingly all of the bags were almost equal in weight, translated – very heavy!
Of course most of them had their drivers, helpers or mothers come and pick them up so the load is lifted of them. But what of those who walk everyday to and from home to school?
Aren’t the heavy bags a little too much?
What strength can a 13, 12, 11 or 10-year-old have to carry a bag weighted at most to 5-6 kg a day? Is carrying that much books part and parcel of going to school to receive an education?
I remember myself not having to carry such heavy books to school back in my days. Sure we had the occasional routine day where all necessary books where needed to be produced in class, but that was at most twice a week. But seeing my brother everyday with his bag, I feel for him.
And it’s surprising to see that the students in higher classes have lesser books in their bags than the ones in the lower classes. You can actually see that a Class VIII student has a lot more books and copies in his bag than a Class X student. Are you saying that the courses diminished with class?
Of course not! I have been there and I know that that isn’t the case.
Nonetheless, back to the question at hand: Why do kids have to carry so many books to class?
You will see kids nowadays walking on the roadside with a slouch produced by the weight of the books they carry. Isn’t this a health issue? Why can’t the schools see this?
I know of my nephews and nieces who don’t want to go to school because they don’t want to carry a heavy school bag.
Can’t schools introduce a locker system for students to use? Or if that is too much to ask, can’t teachers at least be more kind to students and tell them not to bring their copies if they are in the midst of a lesson or not to bring their books when they don’t need to refer to them as dictations or answers are being given in class?
Or if they know that they won’t be teaching that particular subject the day after, they can at least have a heart and tell them not to burden their bags and backs with his/her books. Just a small point to raise on the next parent-teacher meeting, i.e., if there is one!
Which brings me to my next point: Why aren’t there any communication between parents and teachers? The only time they meet is during the result assessment of their respective wards and that too is held in such a hurried manner that one simply doesn’t have the time to chat up with the teacher.
And at times the teacher seems least interested in it!
The only time that schools actually call parents for a so called ‘parent-teacher’ meeting is when the school is in need of funds for renovation, a concert (A Parents’ Day concert to be more precise, where parents have to bear the expenditure of their ward’s costume and such), a sports meet and the like.
Of course I don’t mind the regular co-curricular activities but that isn’t the point here. The point is this – most parents are heard complaining about teachers, their way of teaching, favouritism, the principal, infrastructure and the likes among themselves or at home to their wards. And that is what they do- just complain. None but only a handful would actually take up the task of going and actually demonstrating these complains to the principal or the teachers at hand. They just end up as useless kitchen banter among themselves and this goes on day after day.
What I am saying is this: Why don’t the schools, for the benefit of all, have more than the occasional fundraiser-meeting or the result assessment meeting in a year?
Take a look at our western counterparts. They have a system where parents can meet teachers and the principal at any time during school hours and they can suggest and ask of their wards performance in the school. Moreover they have the PTA, which consist of both parents and teachers working together for the uplift of the students and the school. They work TOGETHER, mind you!
And also they meet on a regular basis. This allows the respective parents to know what is going on in the school and also what kind of a person a respective teacher is. Although we respect teachers as educators but we must also remember that they are also humans and they are bound to make mistakes.
This next point will bring a smile to the many students reading this and I’m sure they would rejoice if the case becomes a reality.
Why are students the only ones being assessed on a monthly and yearly basis? Because of that obvious word tagged to them? Because they are still ‘students’? Sounds legit, but why aren’t teachers assessed as well, if not by a skilful board of members but by the students themselves?
Of course, this wouldn’t mean asking the teachers to write exams or perform oral tests. But it would mean giving the students the chance to grade the teachers at hand based on their teaching skills, their inter-activeness in class, their acts of favouritism if any and the likes. This can be held once in three months or biennially in the form of questionnaires or an inspection. The questionnaire can be prepared by the principal or by a group of students itself and circulated amongst other students. Based on these the teachers can be assessed and deemed fit to be interacting with students or not. An inspection power can be given to a noted educationalist or to a parent or to both without the knowledge of the teacher in question. This would help in making the inspection discreet disallowing the teacher to prepare at hand the good things he/she would do in class.
There are cases that teachers teach only because they have no other option to work for a living, they come without a care in the world for the students, take up a book and try to finish the syllabus as prescribed. These teachers don’t educate at all. They just work like machines to fill their own gas tanks.
That being said, not all are like that. I am saying that they do exist although not in a majority.
In having an assessment for the teachers as well by students or maybe the parents, we can filter out such ‘Mr Gradgrinds’ and keep only the educators that can actually educate the kids and not turn them into cogs of a well oiled machine.
In saying so however, I give thanks to all my teachers who have made me who I am right now.
My English teachers who gave me the courage to write although I couldn’t write much back then, my mathematics teachers who taught me that the value of pi isn’t only the number itself but also a food for thought, My science teachers who gave me logic and reasoning, My value education teacher who taught me that morals and values above all are the basis for education and to the school and everyone else in it who taught me how to become a man in this world.