Badri Ghimire, a newly recruited teacher at Kshetrawati Higher Secondary school, Dolakha, was found hanging in his room in school hostel on January 6, 2013. Pieces of cloth had been forced into his mouth and his feet were touching the ground, clearly indicating that it was not a suicide. His room had been left open, with money scattered all over the room. Ghimire had been appointed a teacher of mathematics through an open competition just a few days ago. It is suspected that his death may have been triggered by some political group’s dissatisfaction over his appointment.
Violence against teachers has been on the rise in Nepal, especially since the Maoist Insurgency began in 1996. Teachers have been easy targets since. During the war, many teachers across the country were abducted and killed for allegedly conspiring against the ‘people’s war’. [break]
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Many others were beaten and tortured. As a result, they were compelled to abandon their jobs. Some were even forcefully enlisted to fight. Many others had to contribute to the war by donating a certain percentage of their salary every month. Those who refused to yield to the rebels’ political philosophy were either ‘finished off’ or brutally tortured.
Even after the armed conflict ended and Maoists came into mainstream politics, teachers continued to suffer violence from different political as well as non-political groups. Many teachers, especially in mid -Tarai, have been the victims of various armed groups operating in the region even in recent days. A number of teachers have already lost their lives, while many others have been displaced.
Violence against teachers, however, is not just limited to political reasons. The moral and socio-cultural foundations on which the dignity of this profession rested has gradually weakened. In the past, teachers were considered second parents and respected by students, who were taught to do so by all sectors of the society. The term ‘Guru’ carried special value and significance, since it referred to a person who was learned, enlightened, and often the source of knowledge. No student dared defy the orders of their gurus, let alone debate them, for they feared that the wrath of these gurus could have a devastating effect in their lives.
This trend contributed to a cordial relationship between students and their teachers, which eventually assisted in making teaching-learning process easier. However, things have changed. Society has become indifferent to teachers, and does not give them the credit and honor they deserve for their contributions to society. This has had a direct influence on modern-day students.
Commercialization of education has also been a key contributor to violence against teachers. It has left undesirable impact on student-teacher relationship. Driven by profit rather than altruism, private educational institutions tend to lay excessive emphasis on students, their paying customers. This in turn has made teachers’ lives pretty difficult. Teachers are not safe even in classrooms. Modern day students don’t seem to have the reverence for their teachers.
Often they are found misbehaving with their teachers. For this reason, most teachers in these institutions are at odds with their students, who have grown to be intolerant and rebellious, with apparent traces of moral degradation. They view teachers merely as people hired to assist them, and more importantly, as people who live on money paid by them. Things as simple as asking a student for assignment or chiding another for disturbing the class can trigger a verbal exchange. The teacher may end up having to suffer insult and humiliation at the hands of students at such times.
Occasionally, teachers are even physically assaulted. Even in such extreme cases, ironically, it is the teacher who has to suffer the aftereffects. Such cases often end with the teacher having to apologize while the student (or the perpetrator) is spared. The teacher has to bear the tag of a ‘failure’, of being unable to control the classroom. This has bred low morale in teachers.
With ineffective rules and regulations, the situation is even worse in public educational institutions, where students often misbehave with their teachers. Teachers are threatened, verbally abused and even physically assaulted, sometimes fatally. Just a few years ago, a teacher in Nepal Commerce Campus, Minbhawan was killed in cold blood by a group of his own students, simply because he refused to let them cheat during an examination. It is the primary duty of the society as well as the nation to guarantee the protection of teachers against violence of any kind, if their unparallel contribution to the society and the nation is to be acknowledged.
The author is a lecturer of English at Pentagon International College, Kathmandu
durga_2004@hotmail.com
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