Saturday, April 03, 2010

Teachers Vs Pupils

The followings are school related news I read lately.

Girl of 6 repeatedly sexually abused by 23 classmates


A horrified mum told yesterday how her six-year-old daughter was repeatedly stripped and sexually abused at school - by 23 of her classmates.

The terrified girl was attacked every day in the school grounds by a mob of pupils her own age - under the noses of unsuspecting teachers.

The mum said: "It was horrendous what she went through. Every day she was being stripped.

"She was being physically and sexually abused every day. (Daily Mirror)


This news shocked me deeply. The first question which came to my mind was what teachers and assistants were doing there. According to my relative working in a primary school in London, there is a class teacher working together with teaching assistant in each class room with max 30 pupils. A trainee teacher may be observing and helping. Special need assistant is an extra one depending on the requirement. During the play time, there is also a playground assistant who is whistling and watching youngsters all the time. It is difficult to blame on a person or a group of teachers in this case. The faulty part leading to the incidence would be poor management or under-funding or negligence or combined. I feel sorry that the young girl could grow up with a psychological scar.

Another sick news is that it has been more and more popular among students to use social sites like Facebook to bully their teachers.

These included malicious sexual allegations against teachers.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers heard how one teacher had a fake Facebook account set up in his name containing false allegations.

Another teacher had suffered stress after a video of her teaching appeared on YouTube.
Another teacher said she knew of a group of pupils who wrote online: "Join this group if you think Mrs X is still a virgin."

A false social networking profile, opened in the name of a teacher, claimed he enjoyed "under-age sex with both boys and girls". (BBC)


Someone would simply say that this is an ugly disadvantage of social networking sites. But in the society where human right is prioritised which is good in general, teachers have a limited authority on their pupils. A group of pupils may see teachers as a sort of their employees. Apparently, a culture has been growing in some schools that fellow students see someone who refuses to obey rules or does against what teachers say as their hero.

I am concerned about the outcome of such kind of young lads. I feel government should have an efficient strategy to tackle with rebellious students who could be potential thugs in the community level.