Dear readers of the ezine, I will make an effort to discuss the role of teachers in preventing teen suicide. I am optimistic about your support in preventing teen suicide. I would focus my discussion around some cases of suicide where we have failed as parents, friends, and teachers. The suicide of a thirteen year old boy in Bangalore at St Thomas School on March 09, 2007 due to the humiliation of his mother is a slap in the face to our educational fraternity. How could the teachers, who are the role model of the society and true symbol of inspiration of life for the students, get involved in such a conspiracy by which a student has to end her life? Whether it knowingly or unintentionally resulted in the suicide of my teenage son, but it is certain that the school administration has failed to curb the humiliation of the students at all.
To what extent we would be able to justify the teacher’s conduct, and to pin responsibility for the murder in such circumstances, is a matter of debate, but the blatant culpability of his class teacher’s carelessness is unequivocal. The suicide note left behind by the unfortunate student speaks to the involvement of the teachers. The teacher had not only failed to determine her student’s Mental Disorder (MD), but she had directly instigated the teen’s suicide. I have studied six cases of student suicide; and in all cases it was revealed that teachers were directly involved in promoting suicide in one way or another. Some of the findings are concluded as follows:
In my first case study, I discovered that Charanjit Sharma, a 10th grade student, had
he committed suicide over a mere prank that resulted in humiliation. In this case, not only did his classmate and his classmates act irresponsibly, but also the teacher, out of ignorance of the facts of her mother, contributed to his suicide.
oHe, despite being from a very poor family, was studying well. His father was able to take him to school with great difficulty. He was a bright and outstanding student in the tenth grade. Since he was introverted and sensitive to studies, his friends used to cajole and joke around with him. On the day the results of the board’s 10th standard exam were declared, he went to school hoping to qualify with a minimum of 60% marks, a rare achievement for any small-town student in the early 1980s. .
o Entered school with high hopes and aspirations but before being able to go to his class teacher; his few friends surrounded him and began to shout that, despite being a bookworm, he had failed. Initially, Charanjit thought that his two colleagues were joking, but when he met almost ten of his classmates, they all confirmed that he had failed. Despite knowing full well that all his friends were joking by unanimously telling him that he had failed, he went to his class teacher to confirm it. At the time he asked his class teacher about his result, the teacher also, unaware of the effect of his internal mental conflict, reinforced his friend’s statement that he had failed.
Without asking anyone else, not even in town, he returned to his house in a bad mood and lay down on his bed without saying a word to anyone. Although her mother realized that something was wrong with her son, she, being totally illiterate, did not ask anything about the school result. At approximately 4 pm, he suddenly left the room and began to vomit violently. Meanwhile, her mother also returned after working in the fields and a large number of villagers had congratulated her because her son Charanjit had made the village proud by passing through the first division. When he began to vomit more blood, her mother became concerned and, upon questioning, Charanjit said that he had used sulfa pesticides to commit suicide because he could not pass the 10th standard to prove that he was a good son.
oHis mother cried, saying Oh! What have you done? You’ve made it through the top division of the school, the only top division in your class. Hearing his mother’s cries, when all the villagers had gathered, Charanjit reported why he used pesticide and started pleading with her to save the life of my elder brother, Shri Balbir Sharma. He was immediately transferred to the best specialist, but could not be saved. He departed for the heavenly abode victim of the cruel jokes of friends and the apathy of the irresponsible teacher. I have observed that he gave all indications of his intention to family and friends before ending his life.
Later, while interacting with his teacher, I realized that the teacher was not even aware of the fact that his friends were joking with him about the result of the 10th standard exam; because he said that when Charanjit had asked him something, he had not seen or been aware of his result. He further said that seeing Charanjit’s friends laugh, he simply nodded to agree with them, unaware of Charanjit’s true state of mind. All of his friends then felt guilty because of them. Charanjit had committed suicide.
Analysis The reader would agree with me that all of the Mental Stress Supervisory Response (MSSR), Risk Behavioral Attribute Symptoms (RBAS), and Visual Change Disorder (VCD) attributes were evident before he committed suicide.
oIf his teacher had given a correct answer, wouldn’t he have committed suicide?
oIf his mother and father had tried to find out why he became depressed after returning from school, Charanjit would not have committed suicide.
oIf he himself had waited to see the result and then taken a step, he would not have committed suicide. All the “had?” have generated the extreme cumulative effect of MSSR and VCD failure.
In fact, I have found that teachers have adopted the Too Hoot to you (students) attitude, making the student believe that they have lost their prestige or status in the eyes of teachers and friends. The current suicide case is an example of the teacher’s irresponsible behavior and approach in dealing with such sensitive students. Although I have elaborated on the responsibilities of teachers in part 2 of my series, in this article I will also dwell on the analysis of the changing roles of teachers.
Second, my discussion would focus on the changing character of educational institutions in the so-called modern developed world.
Has teaching become a business is the real question to be debated? Readers would agree with me that teachers today have become more money-minded than servants of the psyche serving society. Teaching, rather regarded as a noble cause of the ancient Holy System of Education of India (ISSY), has become an educational industry. In the name of privatization and making money for the State, the short-sighted political leaders of the Government have practically gotten rid of fulfilling the basic letter of constitutional duty towards the responsibilities of the citizens of the State.
How, not only the so-called hawks in the Indian government think tanks, but also leaders all over the world had replaced the basic human oriented values education (HOVES) systems of the past with the modern materialistic education system and without values (MAVES) today. My debate is not to discuss what we have achieved with the MAVES, but to analyze how human values have been lost in modernity. While the HOVES teach teenagers how to become a good human being, on the one hand, the MAVES teach how to gain wealth on the altar of human values. The role of teachers in the transmission of such values also revolves around the materialistic approach. Some weaknesses of teachers observed when interacting with students are:
oOne; too self-centered and petty approach in class;
oTwo; only encouraging and caring for upcoming students who are otherwise performing well and neglecting or spending minimal time on weak students’ studies;
oThree; teach less in classrooms, but encourage more students to join the tuition class, either at home or at an institute of their choice;
oven; minimal interaction with students after school hours;
oFive; no attempt to spend time with weak students;
oSix; do not try to understand your students and their psyche in class;
oSeven; focus more on the wealthy, financially strong and influential people than on the sons of the common man;
oEight; a lot of teachers develop swoons, strong likes and dislikes for some students and always try to prove students who don’t like them wrong. In fact, I have seen such teachers find an excuse to scold such students daily in class. I met a 9th grade student, who was not attending classes because her teacher didn’t like hers, by virtue of being from a weaker section of society due to India’s quota system. In fact, the quota had made him a hated man who later became a lawless human being;
or Ninth; Most of the teachers in the eagerness to earn more money have forgotten to neglect the social responsibility of the noble cause of education. I had the opportunity to interact with a teacher in the subway, where he worked as a government teacher, he did his doctorate on government spending, but he only attended the government school for a period through manipulation. He ran his own seven enrollment centers. He was on the wheels of a motorcycle for more than eight hours a day, moving from one center to another. If such teachers are our role model, then what can we expect from future teenagers? I call such teachers the Blind Wealth Man (WBM). These WBMs have generally ruined our future generations;
o Tenth; most teachers are now following Less Teaching, More Homework tactics in the classroom. I also approached a teacher for a solution he gave my teenage daughter and was surprised to find that after over an hour of trying she was unable to solve the physics equation for which she also received an award. After sweating for over an hour, he pretended to go to the bathroom and went inside. I’m sure when she came back she was confident to solve because I still think she had probably seen some solved leaves inside. My interview with over 3,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade and her parents has confirmed this truth. More than 99% of teachers, especially from established schools, follow this teaching method.
oEleventh; The most important aspect of fear is the widening of the communication gap between teachers and adolescent students who are shy, fearful and weak in studies. In one class, I noticed that the teacher did not know the names of all of his students despite being their core class teacher for almost a year. What a shame for our teaching community.
or Twelfth; Too Hoot to You Syndrome is killing our teens through the neglect and careless attitudes of the modern world teaching community. In order to prevent the suicide of a teenager who goes to school, our community of teachers needs to be sensitized to the growing problem of their suicide.
I hope that World Teachers’ Day will be celebrated with a vision to prevent adolescents from
Suicide in school due to bad teachers: students’ relationship and the egocentric teacher’s MAVES approach. I am optimistic in the hope that my views will bring some sense among teachers to follow HOVES and save a life. I would like to further elaborate some new findings on teacher-student relationships with thanks for the support.
