Are we listening?

In the recent past, we've seen sporadic incidents of violence in schools -  teachers adopting insensitive ways of disciplining students, students resorting to shocking ways of 'getting back' at their friends and in extreme cases, teachers as well!

 

Do we see these as stray incidents or is there an underlying thread connecting them? What could be the ulterior motive? Power, money, greed?  Personal gain or vindication? Or is it a result of simply not being heard, not being connected with or an inability to express themselves appropriately?

 

In a large and diverse country like ours, we have more than a million elementary schools (and the numbers continue to grow) catering to a diverse population across the socio-economic strata. It is no doubt a daunting task for schools to develop and sustain good practices of teaching – learning in their classrooms.

 

In their quest to ‘complete syllabus’ and ‘achieve results’, our schools do not focus on providing  opportunities to all individuals in the school to actively participate, express themselves and listen to one another.  This results in a manifestation of suppressed feelings and emotions whose outcomes are at times far more damaging than one can fathom.

 

What every school needs to realise is the importance of ensuring an environment that is non-threatening and nurturing to each and every child and adult who enters the portals of their school every single day.

 

We have an option to either sit back, complacent in the fact that this does not happen in our school or take a step forward and make an effort to listen to those voices  - spoken and unspoken!

 

Join us as we try and explore the vital aspects of a caring school and see how we can make our schools an oasis of good relations and fond memories!!

 

Join us this 30^th of March at Royal Orchid Hotel, Manipal Center for a panel discussion on ‘Do schools care?’

 

For more information or to register your name, please contact:

Lalitha Chacko
+91 99801 13302
lalithachacko@teacherfoundation.org

Misbah Shahid
+91 98455 78806
misbah@teacherfoundation.org