Rafed English

Save the Child from Risk of School Antipathy

It was a primary school. The geography teacher asked for a volunteer among the pupils in the class. One of them was quick to oblige. He went to the Atlas Library and brought a canvas roll of Africa map and. as enthusiastically, proceeded to hang the now spread canvas across the tripod blackboard. This practice though usual. required some height and prior experience for any volunteer.

On this occasion, however. the canvass map slipped from the hands of the pupil and fell onto the floor much to his embarrassment. The mishap was greeted with a lively roar of laughter in the class. Surprisingly, the teacher got visibly angry. He thought that the pupil had obliged the class-

mates with an amusement at the cost of his respect as a teacher.

The teacher asked the pupil to stand to attention in a corner of the class. The teacher however got further angry at the pupil when he saw that some of his classmates were making signs of teasing at him for his punishment as if he was the one who was prompting the spectacle. So the teacher asked the pupil to go out and wait for him outside the office of the headmaster while he was continuing with his period. A Real Dilemma.

The headmaster on the other hand finding the pupil outside his class missing his les- sons. directed him to return to his lessons. The pupil seeing himself in a real dilemma decided not to venture back to face the teacher while he was in that ugly mood. Instead, he moved about in the lobbies until the period was over and returned to register his presence outside the office of the headmaster as instructed earlier by the teacher. .

Later the teacher informed the headmaster that he was not surprised that the pupil had defied the instruction to return to his lessons because he was already proving himself a cause of indiscipline in the class. He recommended punishment and perhaps a note also to his parents. He was punished. The pupil though already hurt, was relieved of the apprehension about an additional punishment at home when it appeared certain to him later that no communication was however sent to his parents by the school.

Adapted from the book: "Child" by: "Mohamed A. Khalfan"

Share this article

Comments 0

Your comment

Comment description

Latest Post

Most Reviews

MOST READ