RIGHT OR WRONG?

It’s a register marriage. A Hindu man marries a Christian woman without the consent of their parents. They fix Chennai as their source of income. The woman joins in a school where the man works as an engineer. The woman wants to talk to her mother and, was strictly rejected.

It’s her first day. There is a deep debate about the sex education in the school. Some teachers agree and others totally disagree in this regard. She enters in a class as a substitute teacher and finds a girl crying. As getting no response from the girl, she switches over to the other girl who tells the actual story.

The girl who is crying is celebrating her birthday. A boy who belongs to the same class has kissed her when she offered chocolate. The teacher calls him and asks him to apologize to the girl but, he refuses and argues, “Kissing a girl is not wrong, and I would also kiss you if you celebrate birthday.” His words make the teacher angry and end up in slapping, which makes the boy swooning. The matter is getting serious. The principal arrives and orders the teacher to abscond for some days with her husband but, they refuse.

Meanwhile, the boy’s pulse is downing and doctors suggest them to shift him to another hospital. Having no option, reluctantly, the teacher and her husband flee as   the principal’s compulsion. Both police and the relatives of the boy start searching them. Media take this news for discussion. The doctor says the boy is in coma and there is a possibility of recovery after a surgery. Simultaneously, while traveling, the couple receives a call from a policewoman who commands them to come back. Her tone is not menacing. They obey her order and agree to go back.

Actually they don’t want to escape from this issue. But, due to the unavailability of busses, they have to catch a lorry to go back, which is not going to their actual destiny. Hence, they get down in the middle and find a lodge since the bus to Chennai is at 2 A.M. The man informs everything to the policewoman she agrees without any objection and asks them to report before morning. As a cop, she pretends well! They get a bus. Meanwhile, the protagonist becomes mentally ill for her mistake. Finally, the boy recuperates but, the media doesn’t stop probing the educational inspector.

He already had a clot in his brain but, the teacher is not responsible for his swooning. The educational inspector justifies with the report. At the same time, she doesn’t deny the teacher had beaten him.

The protagonist of the story all of a sudden appears in front of the media and talks.

“What I’ve done was wrong. Beating a student is not right. Life is more important than mathematics and science. As a teacher I shouldn’t have bet him though it was a light hit. I shouldn’t have bet him though I had reason. I should have treated him as my own child.”

It’s the plot of the award winning movie ‘Kutram Kadithal.’

There are two significant things were discussed here.

1. To beat or not to beat

2. Sex education is needed or not needed

Discussion number 1: ‘to beat or not to beat?’

It was the topic of the media which was engaging in a discussion in the movie. Here, as a Blogger, as a student, as a human, I would like to clarify certain things before coming to the conclusion. As a common man, I have certain questions. Does the teacher beat the student out of anger? Or, does the teacher beat the student to correct him. If a teacher really wants to correct the mistake of the student, it must be neutral. Sometimes, I’ve noticed, it is not about the mistake of the student rather the student himself. The punishment will definitely differ from student to student. Most of the teachers, I can say, are not looking at the mistake of the student, on the other hand, they value the mistake based on students. How many teachers give same punishment for same mistake committed by different students? Treating all students equal is not possible for all the teachers.

Similarly, it is very difficult to accept that teachers are second parents. Mother gives importance to her weakest child. But, how many teachers give importance to weak students? How many teachers give importance to slow learners? Obviously, their first preference is studious boys and girls, and the punishment also differs. Blaming teachers is not the objective of this article rather, it is to justify that teachers also belong to human community. In other words, they too have their personal feelings, emotions, likes and dislikes. Moral values are taught in classrooms and consciously violated in staffroom.

When I was watching the movie, I could observer that the teacher tried to correct the boy for his mistake and decided to punish him for his reply, which directly harmed her. Teaching is their job, and not their position. Similarly, being a parent is their position and not their job. The actual aim of the teacher is not to kill the student, and no teacher wants to do that. If a mother is unable to tolerate her four year old mischievous boy at home, then, expecting the teacher to tolerate forty different ten year old students in the classroom is illogical.

As a teacher, it is not easy to wear an emotional mask all the time in the career. Hence, teacher can beat the student for mistakes. Let’s look at it in another angle. We are all human beings. A man is not supposed to torment another man physically, which is applicable to cops also. Here, both teachers and students fall in to human category. Hence, a teacher doesn’t need to control his/her emotions as a teacher, but, it is necessary to handle as a human. If a teacher tries to handle his/her emotions as a human, then, the mask is not necessary.

There are several ways to correct students, which can be followed by teachers as human. A teacher, who teaches human values to students, need not teach as a teacher, just as a human.

2. Sex education

To be continued.