User:Thrimshinght zamex

Policy Matters in Bhutan

Happy our parents are For school is a safe home And with zero tolerance policy in Our children are never resorted to manhandling!

How many of our school going children would like to get canned or expelled out of the school for going against the social norms? Are we going to resort our children to manhandling or let them repeat the same mistakes thrice and push out out of the system. The institution of ‘Zero-Tolerance policy’ at the school level befittingly sounds great. Every parent would be in favor of it owing to the fact that our children are now treated very softly. Even the counselors to a greater extend would amorously assure the policy as the finest measures to discipline our school going children. The various stakeholders under the Ministry of Education are now happy with the banning of corporal punishment. Bravo! Everyone in the system got an opportunity to experience the change and predict what would come next. Certainly, every citizen must know the differences in the classroom between the digital class and the rudimentary classroom settings. The latter which is prevalent in our classroom requires different approach as we are brought up in the different society and it has a different impact on the child’s learning as stated by John Piaget. The other school of thought would term the policy as ‘ criminalizing’ yet to some extend the statement might sound ridiculously true. To argue the policy is of rather friendly approach than punishing them, keeping both teachers and students on track. But the question is do we really have capable counselors who can actually handle the mischievous children. Are we not ruining our children? Is the policy instituted as per the need of the children? How many of us can really let children go on committing the mistakes for several times? Does expulsion sounds great or beating a child is too much for both the parents and teachers? Remember that the teacher beats a child and a parent too beats a child for the same reason. If concerned stakeholders and parents dislikes corporal punishment in the school, our teachers too dislike it because it physically, emotionally and mentally tortures our children. Now do our parents want children being beaten once and put into the track or let our children get expelled from the school for committing major crimes after providing several counseling services which too is under the jurisdiction of the school authority. However it doesn’t mean that the schools are autocratic institutions but with due respect to the child’s right the school participants are concerned about producing a GNH graduates. In case if a child is expelled from the system pertaining to the behavioral issue, do parents feel that producing GNH graduates from unschooled system would be tangible and satisfying. Now we know that the tunnel vision of putting corporal punishment into the system is unwelcoming even both by parents and students, so now where lay the fault and the teachers cannot be cynical here! So dear teacher colleagues with positive disciplining technique in, let’s be soft to our students and be hard in issue! Most importantly, as we are both adaptive and situational leaders, we have biggest role to play hereafter in producing a GNH graduate…………….by not teaching them the values but letting them learn and realize it of their own. So let’s welcome the change in our education system as it is not the White men’s last burden as long as it is going to give birth and bloom into GNH global citizen- of altruistic and empathetic, and of mindful and caring individual who could transform the global village.

Sonam Chophel (Teacher) Tsebar LSS, P/gatshel