Parents must do their part

I’m an English teacher in a reputable school in the UAE, and I find that it is common practice by parents to leave their children with nannies. Where is the parental guide? Do they know anything about that we need to teach our children, such as manners, ethics and how to be disciplined? Many parents don’t understand the importance of the upbringing of their children.

In school, they stay five to six hours. The rest of the time they are at home, they adopt major habits from their surroundings, so parents should behave ideally if they want their children to behave. Plus, children have abrupt eating habits right after or between any period. There is a need of basic time management and mothers have to pay extra attention towards their little ones. We as a children learnt and practice discipline at home and then later were educated in school. We need to teach children how to respect teachers the way we have learnt from our parents. Both parents and teachers need training in behavioural management. We, as teachers, study and practise it during our courses in education.

From Ms Agha Khadija Shahid

UAE

Learning equal treatment

Teachers should learn behavioural management as many teachers don’t treat children equally and discriminate among students. It’s wrong, and it happens frequently.

From Ms Ruby Ghazi

UAE

Highly respect teachers

Teachers were highly respected in our childhoods.

From Mr Ali Khosa

UAE

Need cooperation

From my experience, it’s all about having a pretty good balance between behaviour of teachers and strict measures wherever necessary. Teachers and parents, both are liable for the behavioural output of children, whereas the latter’s liability is outweighed due to the amount of time spent with them and the intimacy factor.

From Mr Mushtak Ahmad

UAE

Play your role

Inside the home, children should be taught morality and integrity. During school, education and knowledge. So, if both parties – parents and teachers – play their role in an efficient manner, we can have a seed grow into a fully grown tree.

From Mr Krishna Bhujel

Kathmandu, Nepal

Tough work, not enough pay

It looks like each school has its own policy. Mostly, teachers are not allowed to give strict punishment to students, even if they get out of control. I have seen in one school where the principal is very strict. She shouts not only at children, but even at her teachers in front of the students. Therefore, those teachers who are humiliated in front of students don’t get respect and obedience from students. Students shout in front of these teachers, but are scared of the principal.

Teachers spend more time with students so they know the behaviour of students. Teachers can be counsellors, too. They can solve small behavioural problems. But, in some schools, a teacher’s salary starts very low and their workload is the same as someone who works for above Dh5,000. Teachers with small salaries and large workloads have no motivation to give the extra effort in behavioural management.

It’s strange in some schools how the administration staff will make much more than the teachers. A teacher’s work is tough.

From Ms Syeda Ahmad

UAE

Support teachers

I’m also a teacher. As I had noticed in my 10 years of experience, parents nowadays are less bothered about the social behaviour of their children. They aren’t teaching them basic manners at home, so children are becoming more liberal. Since they don’t know basic values, they are misbehaving. As teachers, it’s our responsibility to teach them, we have to be strict. The sad part is that we aren’t allowed to be strict, so children aren’t understanding the values that they are supposed to get from home. If teachers try to be strict, all rules and regulations will be implemented against them. We all have to understand that it’s our responsibility to teach our children basic values and if teachers are teaching these life lessons, please support them. They are doing it for the benefit of your child. Teachers aren’t the enemy of children.

From Ms Neha Masood

UAE

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