The year end games that are played
As another academic session comes to an end we are blessed
with another plethora of games that the parents play to ensure that their ward
gets admission in the school yet for another year. I have been teaching in
various schools for about 15 years and the games never ends ... the players
change but the games never end. CBSE does not allow the failure of any child
till he/she is in class 8th.
My class is blessed with children of all the 9 types of
intelligence that child psychologists say that people have. There are singers,
there are dancers there are great cricket players and then we should not forget
the artists who decorate our classes during class decorations
But sadly our
education system has very less to do with these kids who are so able- y endowed
with various forms of intelligence in their own fields.
There is a child called E in my class who is a medical case
of epilepsy as a result he used to be always groggy and sleepy in his classes
in previous classes but this year has seen him blossom into a fighting, running
child. Basically he is now competing
with his peer group on a one to one basis and very successfully too.
There is another child, S who wins many prizes in cricket
his picture was now recently on all over the banners in the city but he is
unable to sit in a place for a long
period of time.... the counsellor of our school has asked me to tell his
parents to get a medical opinion of a child as he may be suffering from
attention deficit disorder syndrome but the parents absolutely refuse to take
any medical counselling .... They believe he will get better as he grows up as
he will get smarter with age... but at 14 he still has problem sitting at one
place ....Gets joy in teasing his friends.
Especially E .... for instance with great difficulty when E
manages to take out all his book note book he finds his D from the compass box
missing but naturally S has it with him. Once when I came to the class to face
a furious maths teacher complaining about his maths book missing and E nearly
in tears... I gave a meaning ful look at S and he went to the class cupboard
and got it out himself ( where he had put it previously to bug E)
The one child whose parents give me the ijeebeejees is a boy
called P, his dad is a official child abuser and teachers from the previous
classes have told me that under no circumstance must I call the father to
school for the child’s incomplete works because he will be beaten very badly...
well I had to call him during the result giving day and he was so angry with my
P....... P hates social studies and does not want to go through it at all...as
a result an E grade and his father was SOOOOOOO angry.
He came back later that day saying he wanted to meet the
principal and that he has already broken a tennis racquet... I tell you I can’t
look at his straight in the eyes from that time onwards...and I left a note
with my principal who is very smart dealing with such parents and had dealt
with him very firmly and ably.
P has a very flexible body and can play very good basket
ball but I wish I could do something for my kids who for me are like the
kurkure punchline – “ teda hai par mera hai”
I have met sub inspectors who come to school very rarely,
other people like E parents who are doctors but pressured with the fact that
they have a special needs child and have never forgiven each other for the same
as a result they are consistently fighting still they sport affection for their
child. Parents of S love their child even though they try to scold him i front
of me but he has a look of a chld coming from a loving home... It is only P who
bothers him I want to love him and asked his mother when was the last time she
or he had hugged P so that his breath would leave his body... they gave me a
blank look. His dad has told me that P’s grandfather has send him only in
undies in the cold howling wind in the early morning .... how can you say I am
a child abuser. I hardly abuse this boy as a result look at his marks.
Does it mean that my P will become a father of the same
type????
Today I saw him in the mess and though he is in class 9th
I gripped his arms and squeezed very hard he turned back expecting another
friend but then after seeing me gave me such a warm smile, that my heart
melted. What will happen to my child....Sometimes these thought give me pain.
