The modern education considers it almost a sin to use corporal punishment. The times are gone when a teacher would beat a child in a classroom, and even parents would condone it. Just some days back a case of a teacher beating a students went viral on the social media. People were aghast on such a behaviour from the teacher, and it generated a sense of disgust. Even the administration had to step in and take necessary action. But the story doesn’t end here. The education department, and all those civil society actors who are into the education sector in different capacities need to come forward and identify the problems that lead to such events. A single sentence condemnation is not a remedy at all. We need to reimagine the relationship between a teacher and a student. In this process of reimagining the relationship the concerned persons and institutions need to sensitise teachers and students about the importance of respectful relationship between a teacher and a student. It also needs a dispassionate study as to why this relationship has suffered a steep deterioration. The way our school environs have turned almost dysfunctional in terms of relationship building, has definitely contributed to this deterioration. If a teacher is merely considered as a service provider who gets paid for his job you cannot expect a healthy relationship in a classroom. Similarly if a student is relegated to the status of a customer who gets a commodity in lieu of the money he pays, how can a relationship of love and respect develop between the two. Apart from this moral and human angle, there is need to look into the methodology of teaching. It is often seen that we ignore the easier and the efficient ways of teaching and consequently make the atmosphere of classroom very stuffy and coercive. In such a case the teacher-taught transaction is bound to suffer. Rather than raising a hue and cry on a single incident we need to keenly look into the deficiencies in our ways of teaching, and relating to students.
Teaching with love
