Three incidents hogging the headlines in recent times have affected me deeply. The killing of KG student by a Class 11 by in Ryan International Delhi; the killing of a mother and sister by a 16 year old over smartphone use; and the suspension of two teenagers in Class 11 and 12 of a Trivandrum school for hugging each other after a competition in school.
In all cases the future of these kids have been ruined - though I do not know any of them personally, just reading the news has agitated me. Maybe because I have two children on the threshold of adolescence myself. While I was shocked about the first case, the cold-blooded murder conducted to engineer an exam postponement, the second had me in tears - here I was crying for a boy who ruined his future over a momentary anger towards his mother. I scold my son always about his addiction to video games on the phone. No, I didnt cry out of fear for my future but the image of that boy crying after being nabbed, feeling lost and afraid, rattled the mother in me.
In the third case, the vindictive and regressive attitude of the school management and teachers in literate Kerala is appalling. They have ruined the future of a boy who needs to write his board examination in March! To make up stories about them, use abusive language against them and breaking them in the process and enticing the girl to make up stories about the boy is not becoming an established school. They should not be in the business of education.
Going by my association with school teachers in Kerala, I must say they are a very narrow-minded lot who walk around with a know-all attitude. They could do with some Montessori or other training to understand student psychology.
Whatever, it has made me think twice about sending Ashwin to a boarding school in Kerala next year. UAE, despite its strict laws, is more liberal in male female relationships than India. Literacy is only a number in Kerala but real progress and education should begin in the minds, which we are not ready for.
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