Teachers are regarded as parental figures in school who are expected to be kind and nurturing towards the young students. However, many teachers have been in the news lately for causing harm to students and abusing their position as educators.
Earlier this week, a woman shared that her 7-year-old cousin was slapped in public by a religious teacher over a letter. She said the female teacher slapped the boy across the face, leaving a bruise because he couldn’t find a letter in his bag. The incident has received nationwide coverage and the Twitter thread has been viewed over 2 million times. Thousands of netizens have also commented, sympathising with the boy and demanding action against the teacher.
However, the incident also prompted many other netizens to share their experiences of being punished by religious teachers over trivial matters. One man shared that he was once caned by a male religious teacher for entering class 5 minutes late during his primary school days. A woman said she was pinched by her religious teacher during primary school for murmuring because she was trying to remember a surah verse.
Another man even said that the only teachers who had physically punished him were religious teachers. He shared that one twisted his nipple till it bled because he couldn’t remember a prayer, while another pinched the skin on his stomach till it fell off because he made a mistake in reciting a surah verse. The tweet left netizens wondering why religious teachers are most brutal in punishing children when their religion advocates treating children with kindness.
However, there were also mentions of teachers from other subjects who have punished students for minor issues. One woman shared that her English teacher had slapped her for accidentally placing a book on the wrong pile, even calling her stupid in front of the class. One woman even said she was slapped multiple times on one cheek while getting pinched on the other because she received a C on her Bahasa Melayu (BM) exam.
All these stories of students, including the 7-year-old, receiving corporal punishments from teachers over trivial matters have sparked a conversation about teachers abusing their powers as educators. Many believe those still teaching should be stripped of their teaching permits, adding they shouldn’t be around young children if they can’t control their temper.
What do you think about this issue of teachers abusing school children?
