Sharjah - Parents complain of abusive words in schools; teachers say many students are aggressive.
Published: Fri 19 Feb 2016, 11:00 PM
Updated: Sat 20 Feb 2016, 2:08 PM
Parents have raised concerns about the verbal abuse against students by teachers which has reportedly become common in many local schools. Additionally, many parents have reported that their children have begun using foul language which they have learnt from their classmates or from teachers at school.
Moza - a fourth grade student at a private school in Sharjah - was yelled at and verbally abused by her teachers because she spoke during class, according to her mother Um Ahmed. "My daughter came home, her eyes filling with tears and refused to go to school, because her Arabic teacher yelled at her and used bad words, such as Ghabiah (stupid)."
Awatif Abu Seedo, another parent, said her son who studies in KG2 came home and repeated words that the family does not use because it's against their culture. When asked where he learned them from, he replied that his teacher would refer to the students as homar (donkeys) when they failed to understand something.
Conduct law
Student and teacher conduct draft of law stipulates that students must follow positive conduct and respect their teachers, while teachers must communicate with students intellectually rather than emotionally and avoid misconduct.
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"It was shocking, and I told him that a donkey is a kind and helpful animal, and tried to explain to him to not use the word again," Abu Seedo said.
"I went to the school and talked to the teacher and asked to stop saying such words to the students. The teacher said that she sometimes loses her temper when kids behave stubbornly and refuse to learn."
Khalfan Al Monadis said his second grade son came home and told his parents that he would not go to school again because some students called him Aswad (black skin).
Al Monadis added that he went to the school and spoke to the management that students come from various cultures and backgrounds, and added that some students were becoming accustomed to hearing abusive words from both teachers and students.
"When the students who called my son black were questioned about where they learned such words, they said their family members call their maid Sawada, which means black woman," he noted.
Azzah, an employee of the Justice Department in Sharjah, said she was shocked when his eight-year-old son came home and told her that his English teacher - a foreigner - used a bad word.
She then decided to move her children to another school. Some parents, however, said they consider yelling and verbally abusing children a proper method of education. Khitam Abid, for example, noted that she yells at her boys "a hundred times a day", but still they remain stubborn.
She added that they need to be yelled at and treated harshly to become strong men in the future. An education survey conducted by the Abu Dhabi Education Council during the 2014-2015 academic year and in which 58,000 parents participated revealed that 19 per cent of parents said their children in privates schools faced verbal abuses by teachers on a daily basis.
Teachers are human too
Some teachers told Khaleej Times that they are only human beings, and can't always control their temper when repeatedly provoked by students, leading to the use of abusive words and yelling in an effort to thwart misbehaviour.
They noted that many students have not been raised properly at home, or act aggressively due to family issues such as divorce, careless parents, or growing up in a single parent home.
Teachers also noted that in the last two years they have been verbally threatened by students in high schools, and even groped by them. They had also been intimidated by parents, they reported.
No accurate statistics
Experts in education, however, noted that there are no accurate statistics on cases of physical or verbal abuse by teachers, but that the practice is common because there are different types of people who interact with each other - people from different cultures, with different values, religious beliefs, expectationsand levels of maturity. In order to solve the problem, teachers must be provided with training courses on interpersonal communications or learn effective communication in childhood, before they begin their teaching careers.
Misbehaviour and anger
Hibat Allah Mohammed, a social instructor at Sharjah Medical Zone, told Khaleej Times that based on complaints of verbal abuse they've received from parents against teachers in various schools, it has been found that many teachers have failed to control their anger in the face of student misbehaviour.
The student and teacher conduct draft of law stipulates that students must follow positive conduct and respect their teachers, while teachers must communicate with students intellectually rather than emotionally and avoid misconduct.
She stressed that physical and verbal abuse methods against students will affect their ability to learn and can transform them into violent individuals, as they might develop feelings of inferiority. Gombaz Al Mazm, Director of Taryam High School, said teachers are sometimes ignorant of a student's personality and psychology, as well as the family atmosphere in which he or she was raised.
He noted that in his opinion the only solution to this problem is for school managements to select the best possible teachers and train them on how to deal with various types of children before they begin the teaching process. Yagoub Al Hamadi, a social worker in Al Shahabah Elementary School, said verbal abuse of any kind is unacceptable, and can cause students to hate the school and skip the entire academic calendar without the knowledge of their parents and school management.
He said in most cases teachers deny any such allegations, but that there are many ways to confirm the credibility of student claims. "Anyone who intends to become a teacher must have knowledge of proper communication and dealings with students of different types and ages. It is the teacher's responsibility to participate in shaping the character of the students by instilling values and good conducts in their minds," he said.
Penalty against abuse
A top official at the Ministry of Education (MoE) said the ministry has received complaints from parents about verbal abuse, but it would not be tolerated.
MoE takes all complaints into consideration and coordinates with education zones to follow-up and sent a committee to investigate the case. There are tough penalties against teachers found guilty of verbal or physical abuse against a student that can include termination of job and a ban from being allowed in all schools across the UAE.
In a recent case, the MoE terminated the employment of a teacher in Ajman after the investigation committee found him guilty of physically abusing the student. He warned teachers against using abusive language or mockery when evaluating student's education ability or conduct.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com
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