Sir Frank Peters :
The following report is a work of fiction, but there are many lessons and principals therein that could be applied for the greater benefit of Bangladesh. The setting is a village Parent-Teacher meeting. The school principal is the first speaker…
“Assalumu Alikum Wa-rahmatullah Wa-barakatuh, parents, guardians, ladies and gentlemen…
My name is Sabrina Begum. I am the new Principal here. It is my honour to welcome you this evening on behalf of the school board and my fellow teachers seated behind me.
You were requested to attend this special meeting for several reasons. Collectively, we want to get to know you and for you to get to know us better – the teachers who are ultimately responsible for teaching your children. We want you to become more involved and less distant in the education of your children and to view the school as an extension of your family.
There’s an African proverb that says, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. I want this village to raise them up properly, which is why I seek your help, we can’t do it on our own.
As you can see there are teachers to my left and to my right.
I know they are an ugly bunch (laughter), but they weren’t selected for their movie-star good looks, but their ability to teach and I can assure they are very good at that. Apart from fulfilling all the necessary requirements of the Education Ministry, they went through a grueling interview with me. As a result, I can vouch for the teaching abilities of all.
I was transferred here by Dr. Dipu Moni, the Education Minister, because last year this school had gained a bad reputation for corporal punishment. Many of you may have read sorrowful reports in the English-language newspapers written by Sir Frank Peters.
By the way, that’s Sir Frank, wearing a blue dickie-bow tie, sitting at the end of the table. We will hear from him later.
Corporal punishment
What happened to the teachers who performed the often viciously cruel abusive acts on your children? They were unceremoniously dismissed from the education service and some are serving prison sentences for their gross misdeeds.
You and I may hold the opinion that a loving smack now and again doesn’t do our children any harm, but science and a mountain of studies proves differently.
Corporal punishment is like feeding your child a dose of slow poison daily. Maybe not at first, but eventually it causes irreparable damage. Personally, I deeply regret all the hurt I caused my own children when I was ignorant of these facts. There will never be any corporal punishment given to children at this school.
As Sir Frank once wrote, schools should be a place where both teacher and pupil want to be. A place where learning (and teaching) is fun and rewarding – a Jamuna Fun Park of sorts. That’s what we want this school to be, a fun place of learning, a fun place to be.
Our beloved Prime Minister, the great Sheikh Hasina, has often described the children… YOUR children… as the future of Bangladesh and that’s inarguable.
Many of you sitting there may have one, two, three or even four children and at times you may feel overwhelmed and exasperated. I’m mother to a daughter, 6, and a son of 7.
Now take a close look at the teachers at his table, my floral display!
While YOU can count your children on one hand, they may have 40 or more in their classrooms. Can you imagine for one moment what an exasperating experience that can be for them to maintain decorum and discipline?
I know by looking at them they don’t seem human (laughter!), but take my word for it, they are. They may be highly educated individuals, but they share the same human frailties as you and me.
They, too, can experience bad nights. Maybe their child was unwell or maybe their wife or husband became ill. They may be suffering from migraine, fever, and so on.
First and foremost, they are human. The professional training, however, that may have taken them years to master, automatically kicks-in, which allows them to perform adequately throughout the day at school. Like any actor on the stage, the show must go on, but their hearts are not entirely in their performance.
Dr. Moni doesn’t supply any of us with magic wands, we have to assess the situation to the best of our abilities and experience, and act accordingly, quickly.
Gone are the days when teachers wore a mask that made them seem more knowledgeable and were ‘know-alls’.
Teachers are NOT super-human
This worked with ignorant people in the villages, but we are living in a different world now. The world is coming to us via our smartphones and people are much more informed.
It must be realized that teachers are NOT super-human. You, as a parent, cannot expect to deliver your child to school for a few hours each day and expect optimum academic results.
I am appealing to you, therefore, to join with us, understand the problems we face, and play an active role in the education of your child, for their sake.
If we, collectively, can give your child the gift of education, we will be making a vast contribution to his or her future. It is a known fact better educated people get better job opportunities and live better lives.
How do you help? Begin by totally, abolishing corporal punishment in your home. It achieves nothing, but damages enormously. Children learn quicker when they’re happy, so make it light and fun. Finally, encourage your child to read, preferably with a dictionary beside them. Reading offers a child the gateway to an entirely new dimension in this vast universe filled with knowledge, fun, escapism and joys beyond their wildest dreams.
We will take them to the threshold of this new magical kaleidoscopic world that awaits them, that’s our duty, that’s what education does. Whether they cross the threshold, is entirely up to them.
Shakespeare… Wilde… Shaw… and more recently J. K. Rowling did. There is NOTHING to prevent your child from doing the same… NOTHING. In every child there are the makings of a saint
Did our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ever dream of becoming the most powerful woman in Asia as she sat at one of the dilapidated chipped, weevil-eaten wooden desks your child now sits?
Education is the springboard from the darkness of the past to the brightness of the future that should be embraced by all.
Special Guest
Before inviting your questions, Sir Frank Peters has a special ‘thank you’ to extend. As you may know, Sir Frank is a former newspaper and magazine publisher and editor, an award- winning writer, a humanitarian, a royal goodwill ambassador and a long-time friend of Bangladesh.
Sir Frank: “Thank you, Mrs. Begum…
Assalumu Alikum… greetings and Allah’s blessings upon all of you.
I think, Mrs Begum, what you said sums it up neatly. You wish the parents to take an active role in the education of their children, to encourage them at every step and rid themselves of the harmful, destructive, negative effects corporal punishment brings.
Whatever their prevailing financial circumstances, every family without exception, can help build a solid foundation for their children by applying a positive attitude.
My special thanks goes to modern-day heroes Supreme Court Justices Imman Ali and Sheikh Hassan Arif. They outlawed corporal punishment in schools and madrasas in January 2011 and gave children freedom from fear and space for their minds to grow. I salute them.
It is an honour for me to be present in this school where children are given a voice and the rights of a child are observed. This, no doubt, is what Allah would rapturously applaud.
He did not send children into the word to be beaten and damaged, but to learn and to teach love.”
(Sir Frank is a former newspaper and magazine publisher).
