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Kurdistan: "Hey teacher, leave us kids
alone!" Erbil students shout
1.5.2008
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May 1, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq',--
On an autumn day in 2005, Tanuk Farhad was sobbing
on her way home from a school trip she
"unfortunately" had to the parliament building in
Erbil, telling herself that she had the right to
speak out loud about ill-treatment and beating of
students in her school.
The consequences for 13-year-old Farhad's
outspokenly opinions were grave, though.
"I am in a private school. We were on a trip to the
parliament, where I spoke about student beating in
our school and other schools. On the way back,www.ekurd.net
the headmistress told me
I have to leave the school because I spoke badly
about her. I tried hard to stay in that school but
they just moved me," a peevish Farhad told Voices of
Iraq.
"I was punished for just saying the truth. This has
hurt me so much, but I don't regret it," she said,
quietly wiping a tear.
Emad Jawhar, a social worker, said in schools, even
model ones, there are still many cases of teachers
beating and verbally assaulting students.
"Here lies the social workers' role in improving the
teacher-student relationship. In most cases, the
teachers are the party that makes the problems
because beating and insults have their psychological
impact on the students," Jawhar said.
Kaznak, 17, a secondary stage student, said strict
instructions by educational departments "brought the
teachers who used to practice student beating to
resort to verbal abuse and insults just to make up."
"Harsh words, however, are sometimes crueler than
physical assaults," she added.
Dilan, 16, a diligent student in one of the model
schools in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous
Iraqi Kurdistan Region, complained that the teachers
are treating students and children "dictatorially".
"They want us to show blind obedience, zero
arguments and full-fledged acceptance of their
opinions. They believe that they have all the rights
to insult or punish us," Dilan growled.
Nabiz, a 39-year-old teacher, said teachers who
intimidate students are actually the losing party in
this situation.
"Students can never understand their lessons if they
are distraught or scared. This could bring students
to loathe their schools and consequently hate the
subjects they are studying," said Nabiz.
Teacher Samira, 56, adopts a different view, saying
that rod-saving bans on beating have in fact spoiled
the children and now the teachers have no authority
over the students.
She lamented the days of the past when teachers were
most respected in comparison to today's teachers.
"Those were the days. There was time when we used to
walk near our teachers who had an aura of strong
personality about them," Samira said.
Tallar, 34, another teacher, sported a grin as she
remembered her school days.
"I've met many teachers in my life when I was young,
but there was only one that I took as an idol. I am
now trying to treat the students in the same way our
maths teacher used to treat us," she said.
"One of the most important things I learnt from him
was that an ideal teacher is the one who would make
his/her class interesting while not giving the
students the impression that they are less than
him/her," said Tallar.
The Erbil Department of Education, according to
Director Bakiza Abdul-Samad, has officially
indicated that there was misinformation that must be
corrected.
"There was never a law sanctioning student beating
and consequently there was not a law repealing that
one in the first place," she said.
Abdul-Samad added that in any case punishing the
students by beating or insulting "is unacceptable."
Copyright, respective author or news agency, VOI
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