Disciplining the right way

Some years ago I had read a quote from Mahatma Gandhi in Hindi scribbled on the side of an old bus in neighboring Indian town Chamurchi (it is another subject of interest that this place used be in Bhutan several decades ago), which loosely translates into English as, 'Only the discipline will make a nation great". Thinking of Gandhi is unavoidable when we hear about angry teachers and more so the violent Head teachers. I had been a teacher whole life, of course not in a school,  but I tend to believe that the basics of teaching such as the philosophy of education, motivation and the mechanisms of inspiring the young minds is not very different for different age groups and for different educational levels. I hope I am not wrong in saying that more than the more matured adolescents, the younger minds deserve much better treatment than what the nation got to hear recently in a school in Drujegang (http://www.kuenselonline.com/alleged-corporal-punishment-victim-in-thimphu).  While I can understand the pressure this head teacher was in, if all that was  written was true, the arrogance and his very poor ability (rather complete inability) is evident in the language of his statement quoted in the newspaper. What a pity and a shame on all of us educators and so called education administrators. If not anything else,  a sense of remorse on the part of this headteacher was expected by the readers, on the contrary he exhibited a great deal of arrogance.

By any circumstance and in any situation an educator cannot harbour such terrible temper, give such irresponsible response to media and show complete lack of accountability to the noble job bestowed to him. In my opinion, disciplining and corporal punishment have no link to each other. A civilized society always deals with indiscipline in a civilized way. Most importantly the juveniles do not need to be and must never be physically abused to discipline. We do not deserve to be called educators and take oath of allegiance to serve and take care of the future citizens of the country, if we do not are morally right and incapable of handling such basic problems.

A strong message needs to go to all such ill-prepared/ ill-trained teachers and school administrators to enable them rethink about their profession and perhaps even change jobs if they do not have adequate patience, endurance, perseverance and compassion to deal with varied and unexpected situations in the schools and academic institutions where there are so many young and innocent children experimenting with their lives and wanting to grow to their full potentials.

I am not even sure if there are other suitable jobs for these category of impatient people!! 

Thinking Outside of the Box

When I joined RTC about four years ago, I wanted to leave behind my seasoned frame of mind so that I could think fresh and generate new ideas to implement in this first private college in Bhutan. Running academic programs in any college is a challenging job and more so in a private one and that is located too close to a city. Today youth are generally said to be not seriously engaged in academia as they are subjected to too many digressions. Oddly, even many self financing students are found not very different in terms of the self motivation. However, at RTC we believed that it would be possible to churn out excellence out of what we have. Of course, this required more intense thinking, deliberations, innovations and understanding among all of us involved in this noble cause. We did that altogether in the management committee, in the academic committee and in all other meetings and deliberations. The journey began with conformity to do many things differently in RTC:

1.      Orientation to College Learning (OCL)

Recognizing the difficulty that most of the Bhutanese students face in terms of communicating effectively, becoming independent learners, becoming responsible and managing themselves in a community life, we have a semester long module offered to all the first semester students.  It encompasses improving competence in written and spoken English, with an emphasis on developing an independent frame of mind and the students’ own voices as writers. In addition, the course also encompasses readings and discussions that helps the students to settle down in the residence halls, manage time, prepare well for the following semesters and stay away from drugs and alcohol.

2.      Mentoring/Advising:

We appoint faculty advisers for all the students. Each adviser has a maximum of 20 students. There are regular meetings between the advisers and the students where students can discuss their difficulties. The feedback is passed on to the relevant person(s) and is addressed promptly.

3.      Counseling:

We have a counselor for students to meet and discuss their problems. Students could be referred or they could make appointment with the counselor through phone or email.

4.      Mid-term Exams

RTC has a compulsory mid-term test scheduled in the middle of each semester across all the programs. This gives a fair idea of how students are performing and interventions can be made before it is too late.

5.      Wednesday Talks:

 A common hour on Wednesdays are largely for eminent speakers and occasionally used for the student assemblies. Dozens of personalities ranging from the politicians to lawyers, professors, religious personalities, musicians and many others have addressed the RTC community over the last three years.

6.      Career Development:

Realizing that most students would seek employment, Career Development Office is established with large and varied activities that are immensely helping students to make employment applications, face interviews and prepare for the competitive examinations.

Challenges are many but the opportunities are even more. As we celebrate the graduation of the first batch this July, it is also time to reflect and contemplate at the RTC. On the other hand these graduates are the torch bearers and the brand ambassadors for the college.

I would like to felicitate and congratulate the class of 2012 for this unique success and wish all the best to all of them. 

I wrote this and published in the Year book on the occasion of RTC's First Graduation in July 2012