Mentors Not Jailers

“Students, hurry up! Answer the important questions of this chapter,” cried the teacher to the whole classroom. The tone of his shrill, high-pitched commanding voice got the attention of all the students sitting in the class. The countdown was just begun with eyes wide open and hands holding pencils with a firm grip, since the most important work known as “copy and paste," typical of a Pakistani school classroom, was about to set in full motion. All of a sudden, Aliya, quite a weak student compared to the rest, was scornfully told by the teacher to stop whispering in the ear of another student sitting beside her. Other than Aliya, the fear was lingering in the air also for all those who were considerably weak in their studies and could be the next to be rebuked in the presence of other class fellows. Alas! In such a dark story of scorn and perpetual fear, Aliya is not alone.

An anesthetist once confided that when he was in his matriculation year his schoolteacher used to keep taunting him that he would never be able to pass his exams. To make matters worse, whenever he would raise his hands to answer the question, his teacher never allowed him to do so. More's the pity, many students experience a similar sort of negative behaviour from their teachers, but who cares?

In Pakistan, most students and their parents find the display of a harsh attitude by the teachers coupled with severe corporal punishment meted out to students the primary reason behind school dropout, says a research published in American International Journal of Research and Humanities, Arts and Social Science. It further says that the 40 per cent of teachers admit that their ill attitude and lack of interest in student engagement and mobilization have a considerable impact on student performance, resulting in an increasing rate of school dropout in the end.

Some teachers believe that they can transform weak students into a league of toppers and high-achievers simply by degrading them and by comparing them to brilliant ones. However, things turn out to be quite the opposite and that's the way the cookies crumble. Anila, one of my school maids, left her school studies due to the fear of rebuke and corporal punishment from her schoolteachers and that too in front of the all classmates, time and again. So both Aliya and Anila ended up as school dropouts, mainly because of the harsh attitude of the teachers.

Teachers should single out the erratic behaviour of their students and make every effort to understand their diversified backgrounds, culturally, linguistically, ethnically and racially. Sameera, daughter of a housemaid, stands out as a befitting example. Studying in a government-run school, Sameera was a bright student from the beginning and always stood first in the class. But as soon as her secondary-level classes kicked in, something weird happened that broke her from deep inside and she started having intense flashbacks and trouble sleeping. One day Sameera flatly announced that she would not go to school anymore. Her poor mother’s dream of a better future of her beloved daughter came crashing down to the ground. That was all because Sameera's teacher who had never missed an opportunity to affront her in front of the entire class, belittling her performance and personality owing to her poverty-ridden social background.

As things take place, unfortunately, students don’t have many choices at their disposal to be taught by those having an elevated IQ level or a greater intellectual status. In such a grave scenario, what teachers can do better is to enhance their own intellectual capacity to get closer to the IQ levels of their students in order to impart them knowledge in a convincing way. After all, teachers are supposed to be "mentors not jailers.” Mark the difference!