Manama: Saudis have urged the education authorities to take strong action against students who were filmed causing chaos in a classroom and mocking their teacher.
The call for action was triggered by the posting on social media of a short video clip that showed students shouting and playing inside a classroom where desks were thrown on the floor. Two students were then shown hovering around their teacher, a foreigner, and making animal sounds to startle him. The teacher who was sitting passively at his desk throughout the footage did not utter a sound or make a move.
There were no details about when or where the unusual scene was filmed, but, based on the students’ looks, it was most likely in a high school, Saudi news site Al Marsad reported on Tuesday.
Saudi online users harshly criticised the students for their rowdiness. Some users also blamed the teacher for failing to show a stronger character towards the students.
“This is a sad example of utter disgrace,” one user, Al Harfi, commented. “These students are interested only in causing chaos and showing disrespect. They should be punished severely and they should be named and shamed in public. The education authorities must not take such matters lightly,” he posted.
Another online user, Majed, said the school administration should have been more vigorous towards the students.
“This a total lack of good education,” he said. “The students were not obviously well brought up and they are totally lost. The school administration should have a more crucial role in imposing discipline, and, if need, be the minister himself should step in to ensure that education standards and values are protected and reinforced,” he said.
Annouba said the teacher should have not been passive in his attitudes and should not have let the situation degenerate.
“The least he can do is to take their names to the school principal and insist on action,” she said. “Such situations are often compounded by the teacher’s weak personality and negative attitudes because the students see it as a weakness and keep on causing chaos and showing disrespect.
Talal, however, said that he totally appreciated the teacher’s attitude.
“It is easy to criticise the teacher and blame him for what was happening,” he said. “The truth is that he is dealing with a truly challenging situation where he has to deal with young people who have no real sense of education and if he utters a word, he is in for more trouble. It has to do with the failure at home to instill a true sense of discipline in the children and the inability of the school to reinforce the values of respect,” he said.
