M A I L B A G

Vultures in the guise of teachers

THE editorial “Teachers as vultures” (Feb 21) rightly castigated the human vultures that reside in our society in the guise of teachers. Admittedly, there is “something systemically wrong”. Otherwise such characters would not have entered into this noble profession.

The recruitment process in most institutes of higher learning being rampant with the same scandalous approach that one witnesses at the school level, the situation there too is not bright. If cases of sexual abuse from these institutions do not come to the fore in large numbers, it does not mean that they are bereft of any such ills.

Unless an honest and strictly merit based entry system to the teaching profession is not evolved, no amount of vigil or strictness can weed out the vultures out of our so-called temples of learning. However, in this highly corrupt and commercialised age where reservation for meritorious people is absolutely nil, it perhaps is asking for the moon.

BALVINDER, Chandigarh

II

Rape is, no doubt, an abominable crime as the editorial rightly points out. But not all teachers are vultures. A vast majority of them is still a living symbol of glorious virtues.

Who is responsible for the whole mess? Why appoint perverted men as teachers when qualified and trained women are available for recruitment as teachers in girls’ (or even co-educational) schools? Where are now the powers that be who thoughtlessly recommend every Tom, Dick and Harry as teachers to any institution at will? The whole set-up needs a serious rethinking, an objective review, and an immediate reorientation.

NIDHI MALHOTRA, Panipat

III

The editorial rightly says that “the teacher-student relationship is one of the noblest of all relationships”. If this relationship is abused, society is convulsed and the temples of learning become butcher houses. The rapists deserve to be stoned to death or kept out of sight till these sinners become saints voluntarily, because a sinner has a future and a saint has a past.

Religious and social bodies like the Arya Samaj should take the lead in making educational institutions sex-proof and cleansing the whole system. As your regular reader, I join you in the campaign to make every teacher a tutor, guide, philosopher and role model for students. The evil of rape must be nipped firmly.

Prof HARI SINGH, Kheri Jat (Jhajjar)

IV

During the 37 years of my teaching career, I had never regretted taking up this noble profession. But today I bow my head in shame and I hesitate telling anyone that I retired as a teacher.

If a person, whom young boys and girls look up to their guide, role model and more dependable than even their parents and relatives, turns out to be a lusty brute, where one should look for civilised behaviour? We must go deep into the malaise and stem the rot. But before we paint the whole profession with the black brush, we must also find out how such undeserving and uninitiated people enter this noble profession.

Perhaps for many so-called teachers, this job has been a reward from their political masters for the services rendered in their constituencies. There are also people who could become teachers through dubious and corrupt means. It is such people who tarnish the whole community.

VED GULIANI, Hisar

Mohali deserves district tag Reports said the government was according district status to Mohali. The Kharar judicial court was to start functioning from Mohali on Feb 1. But this did not happen. The people are a disappointed lot. When the claim of Haryana and Punjab over Chandigarh was not accepted, both states developed Panchkula and Mohali on Chandigarh’s outskirts. Both cities have developed on the lines of Chandigarh. A number of IT and other companies have come up in Mohali. It has become more attractive than Panchkula. However, though the Haryana government has granted district status to Panchkula with full-fledged district courts, Mohali is still waiting in the wings. The litigants from Mohali have to go all the way to Ropar for justice. One has to spend the whole day for a visit to Ropar. District status for Mohali brooks no delay. Col B.S. GHUMAN (retd), Mohali