Teachers need parents’s support

Who would want to be a teacher today? My heart bleeds for today’s teachers.

I treated my teachers with utmost respect during my time at school. There were times when I would behave unmannerly but that was not the norm.

I don’t understand how things got so out of hand with the treatment of our teachers by pupils really heartbreaking.

The pressure teachers get from the government is tremendous. Teachers cannot fail or discipline the pupils whether they like it or not. They have to go around the dangerous townships, looking for those who bunk school to come and write exams.

The most painful part is seeing a teacher bleeding or having bruises from a beating from the children who they teach. The sad part is that teachers cannot run away from rude and undisciplined children; they have to face them in class again. Teaching has become hell.

Recently there has been a flare-up of teacher/ pupil violence at schools.

Social media has been inundated with pictures of pupils beating up teachers and their transport drivers. The question to ask is: where are the parents in all this?

It is worrying that no parent wants to be involved in this battle.

This is a serious case but not even the government wants to intervene. It seems that often there is no relationship between parents, teachers and their children.

Children as young as 9 years are falling pregnant. Again one should ask, where does a 9-year-old get
the body to carry another child?
God seems to be drifting away from His people, slowly but surely. Will we ever bounce back from this predicament?

Why teachers are still teaching beats me. Of course for some it is their calling and they have to fulfil it. Government has thrown its teachers under the bus.

It should allow teachers to at least defend themselves. It should not be teachers’ responsibility to go around the streets looking for children who don’t want to go to school.

Government should allow teachers to fail those who don’t come to school. It is the parents’ responsibility to see to it that their children are at school. That kind of intervention is not only stupid but dangerous too for teachers.

My observation and conclusion is that today’s parenting is bad from all fronts. When I was growing up most of us were subjected to poverty and probably “abuse”.

I say probably because disciplining was never seen as “abuse” but today it is. Some of our parents were poor but could still raise us to be well-mannered.

These violent kids are ours, people who claim to be smart and educated. Discipline starts with the family – not other institutions like school. Teachers are at school to teach and add to what we give our children as discipline at home.

From the Cape to Limpopo, teachers are faced with danger. For some it is difficult to even walk the streets for fear of our children.

We have failed our children, teachers, ourselves and our schools. Please bring back teachers’ dignity; when teachers used to be respected and loved. Let’s give them an environment that supports them and later criticise them if they fail us.