HOW  FAR  SCHOOLS  RESPONSIBLE TOWARDS STUDENTS

Shanoo was made to stand in the sun by her teacher for more than an hour after she failed to recite the English alphabet.She slippped into coma and later on died Postmartem report confirms that shanoo did not suffer any external injuries on her body,hence corporal punishment by the teacher not confirmed.Cause of death is said to be due to respiratory failure which could also be because of  epileptic seizure.Action demanded against the teacher who allegedly subjected the child to corporal punishment .

              In yet another case Akriti Bhatia of class xii died as she felt breathless ness in the school, was administered oxyzen,taken to the hospital but collapsed in front of hospital. She had not been keeping wellof late and suffered from acute asthama.Principal’s resignation demanded.

There had been number of cases in the past also which were in the news and a child drawn in the unattended simming pool was awarded huge compensation by the consumer court for deficiency in services on the part of school who is paid handsome amount by the parents in the form of fee and towards sports charges etc.

The above two cases have again raised number of questions as to how much school is to do for  keeping medical aid ready. Is it not enough to maintain first aid , presence of one doctor and  nurse   to meet the emergency situation.Can such  facility  be made available in MCD school, if Govt. has not approved funds for the same.Further, is it  possible to keep medicine for all type of diseases suitable to each student looking into their health and ailments they are having when  school is not a hospital .If a student is suffering from a particular ailment ,for that are the parents not supposed to provide essential medicines for emergency to the child.In Akriti’s case ,she used to get nebulizer administered as and when she felt uncomfortable in breathing which is alleged was not available in the school.But school claims that nebulizer was very much available but Akriti could not tell which nebulizer she was using .Similarly ,Shanoo is also said to be having Epileptic problem which perhaps was not known to the teacher

 Supreme court had always been  of the opinion that parting education is a noble profession and should not be commercialized. It has time and again through various judgements expressed its views While deciding the case of  University of Delhi-AIR 1993 SC 1873  Justice  Gajentagadkar said:

‘Education in its true aspect is more a mission and a vocation rather than a profession or trade or business,however wide may be the denotation of the two letters word’- was said while deciding the case

The said views were further re-iterated by the  Honourale Supreme court while deciding the matter in Unnikrishnan ,J.P&State of Andhra Pradesh &others (1993)ISCC 645

The OBSERVATIONS made by the Supreme court in this connection in the above cited case  were as hereunder :

“The cost of education may vary even within the same facuilty,from institution to institution , facility provided equipment,infrastructure,standard and quality of education may vary from institution to institution.The old system of education in India was different from the modern system. The students had not to pay. It was thought that education is so sacred that no man ought to sell it. Knowledge should be given freely and without any price. The teachers used to take students without charge and not only so, most of them gave their students food and clothes. To support these teachers, the wealthy families made gifts to them and they in turn had maintained their students.”

It was said by John Dixon once upon a time.

“I like teaching because the teacher works in an atmosphere of idealism dealing with soul and heart, with ideas and ideals”

“I like teaching because of the large freedom it gives. There is abundance of room for original planning and initiative in the conduct of the work itself.”

“I like teaching because the relation of a learner in whatever capacity is one of the most interesting and delightful in the world”

But where are those days of souls and hearts, abundance of freedom with the teachers to give. There is strong control over the activities of a teacher, may it be from the side of school management, parents associations dominating the school authorities, funding lobbies and the attitude of parents towards teachers considering them as paid up service providers.

The old  system no more exists and willingly or unwillingly our society has been trapped into a situation that teaching is a profession and to safe guard the interest of a student,we accept the situation that a teacher is a service provider and we may need to move the court in case of negligence on the part of a teacher or management or both. Hence we have stopped talking of soul and heart, but the real question is, if we stop talking of something, does it vanish certainly not. It remains as it was and will ever remain.

Problems have arisen with the social changes which have taken place. If we go back and look into the landmark judgments pronounced by those eminent luminaries in the field of law Justice Krishnan Iyer, Justice Matthew, Justice Chanderachud, Justice Bhagwati & Justice Desai propounded new theory of dynamic living law .an instrument of judicial creativity and social reform. The above jurists have assumed the role of a creator, planner, architect, and social visionary building of a new society out of the old one through their historic opinion by applying the liberally interpreted article 21 to vast spectrum of varying situations. Cases of Keshwanad Bharti, Meneka Gandhi etc speak of the fact that interpretation of the statues be done to observe the purpose and intention of the law. Similarly we must bear in mind that any law passed by the parliament does not mean to degrade the noble work or profession and humiliate or insult those who work for noble cause but to preserve its spirit. A teacher is not and cannot be a subject to allegations against him/her and law should be invoked only under a situation when a teacher defaults in maintaining the dignity of a teacher in its proper spirit.

The paradox of our time in history is:

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers

Wider freeways but narrower view points

May the good god give us Enough happiness to keep us sweet

     A better day than yesterday.

Think in better way not to make every issue litigation on the issue of teaching and teacher

                                                                        -

DR. PREM LATA

MEMBER CONSUMER FORUM

Previous

Next