Download (PDF, 533KB) - School of Educators

important for growing children. His mother helplessly worried about his health, and shecould not do anything about school timings, for schools have their own problems.Jaspal and Yashpal were brothers. Jaspal was the more serious of the two and wasinterested in his studies. Yashpal was ten years of age and in the sixth class where manynew subjects are introduced, but he was still very playful. The teachers often wrote in hisdiary that he had not completed his homework for the day. Mother would persuade him attimes, scold him at other times; father would enter into the debates. Sometimes, and withgreat difficulty, he would be made to sit at his desk. Mother worried as to why somechildren are naturally too playful for too long and whether this boy would ever makegood. She avoided comparisons with Jaspal who was all she could wish for, but theyounger one was an enigma to her.Deepu was now in the ninth class and although she was not a timid child, her motherworried about many little things. The bus did not come near their house, so Deepu andher friend, Maria, went by rickshaw. Although the rickshaw man was reliable and theschool was only a half-an-hour’s distance away, her mother worried about accidents andany other untoward happenings, for she was of a worrying nature. She would stand by thegate for nearly an hour before the expected time so that she could see the rickshaw at adistance, returning home. Times being what they are it was becoming increasingly unsafefor girls to move about freely in that town. There were many unpleasant charactersloitering here and there and so her worry was natural.Vikram’s father was determined that his boy should become an electrical engineer likehim. He wanted him to enter the Indian Institute of Technology after his twelfth standard,which meant that he had to score very high marks. The boy was bright and was gettingseventy percent marks now but “that will riot do” said his father. Unless he securedninety percent marks he would not mind a chance in the entrance tests, for thecompetition to the I.I.T’s and other engineering colleges was stiff and as his fatherworried and goaded him Jay in and day out. It was as if he was reliving his younger daysin his son, so much was the pressure. Sometimes for the best of reasons, fathers arc soambitious that their expectations from their sons and daughters are very high. This bringsabout a great deal of tension in the house. If you are in such a situation how would youface it? Think about it.Arjun’s mother was at a loss about her son and spent sleepless nights over the reportsfrom school about the boy’s behaviour. They found him aggressive and violent. He usedfoul language, they said, and the poor lady wondered where he was picking this up from,for there was nobody in the house who used such language. His father had died and shebrought him up alone and did her very best for him with her meagre means. Yet, he hadbecome restless and disobedient and he was not yet in the seventh class. She wouldappeal to him with all her heart and sometimes he responded, for there was a nice side tohim, especially where his mother was concerned, but the reports continued to be the same— fighting, bullying, teasing, not doing any serious study, and so on. Her anxiety waspainful to watch.Manju’s parents were very poor. They had three children and all of them went toschool. Although the school did not charge tuition fees, the costs of textbooks andnotebooks and stationery were rising year by year and so too the cost of uniforms, andevery June the parents spent sleepless nights wondering how they would meet these