‘Slum kids living in one room with parents are born characterless’

While most teachers cited poverty,hunger,neglect,absenteeism,illiterate parents,malnutrition and lack of role models as major challenges students from economically weaker sections face,some also spoke of “inappropriate sexual behaviour” arising from big families living in one room and child abuse. One of the teachers revealed the case of a six-year-old girl showing “inappropriate” behaviour after being sexually abused. Some others listed language barrier with migrant kids,economic disparity in class and lack of rapport between students and teachers as challenges.

The Chandigarh Education Department says the emotional intelligence programme was held to implement the Right to Education Act in spirit. “We hold induction training for new recruits every year. This year,we also included emotional intelligence in it as the RTE Act says each and every child should be able to achieve his or her best. Keeping with the spirit of the Act,we are focusing on imparting quality education. Teachers should understand the concept of emotional intelligence. If they are sensitised on the emotional and psychological needs of students will they be able to deal with them. In case of children from economically weaker sections and migrant families,sibling care,neglect and poverty are stark realities and a teacher has to be sensitive towards them,” Director of Public Instruction (Schools),Chandigarh,Upkar Singh said.

To implement the RTE,the 107 Chandigarh government schools have been divided into 20 clusters. The course was held over two days for over 300 teachers in batches of 40 to 45 by the Mind and Heart Foundation. During the first part of the training,teachers were asked to describe what,according to them,were the challenges students faced and their own goals as teachers. Later,they were given different scenarios such as how to deal with a child who has faced/seen violence at home or how emotions and assumptions would impact an educator’s behaviour and teaching. Through group discussions,teachers summed up what they are doing and what they should be doing.

The empathy course,says pedagogy coordinator Komal Sharma,has helped teachers understand child psychology and the best way to communicate with children. “At times,children show distress signals and may need counselling. In case of those living in slums and colonies,no support from home manifests itself in a certain kind of behaviour. We are sensitising teachers on how to deal with students coming from such environments by roping in NGOs such as Arya Mahila Sangathan. The RTE Act says education should reach beyond schools to the community. We are also holding community mobilisation programme and nukkad meetings in slums and colonies to create awareness on hygiene,nutrition and child abuse.”

The Mind and Heart Foundation,when contacted,said 40 per cent of the teachers who attended the course did not know about the concept of emotional intelligence while 42 per cent were “somewhat aware”. In their feedback,over 90 per cent teachers said they can now understand how emotions impact both learning and teaching. A cluster coordinator,in her feedback said,“Now no one needs to tell us not to punish the child. We have to role model optimism,empathy,impulse control and other skills to help them achieve good grades.”