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Death
of Museaus Colege student
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Banning cell phones in schools:
will it solve the problem? |
Desperation and fear led to suicide
By Shruthi Mathews
The
mobile phone related suicide of 14 year old Anuthara
Kavindi Jayawardene, a student of Museaus College,
Colombo became an internationally reported event
following the response by the Ministry of Education,
instantly introducing legislation banning the use of
mobile phones in public and private schools.
It is
somewhat uncommon to find headlines on international
news media concerning events unrelated to the civil
conflict or political events of the island, yet this
story made a BBC headline last week: “Mobile ban in Sri
Lanka schools.” However, the news of the student’s
suicide was subsidiary to that of the government imposed
ban, and despite the article’s brief and objective
nature, the fact that the ban was mentioned on
international news wires showed the incredulity with
which it is viewed by the global community.
In
Colombo, the prohibition of mobile phones in schools has
given rise to a spectrum of reactions from parents,
students and teachers. However, the heated debates that
have ensued bear little relevance to the fateful
incident of July 22, in which three schoolgirls
attempted suicide.
The
precise details concerning the girls’ motives for
suicide remain unclear, and the school has not issued
any public statement. Hence, speculative rumours fly
back and forth. However, in the midst of these, one
issue stands indubitable: three young girls considered
death a preferable alternative to the consequence of
being “disciplined” by their school. The precise nature
of the punishment they were to face remains unknown, but
their violent reaction to its prospect is what gives
inevitable rise to the question that has prompted so
much speculation: what were they so afraid of?
Although amongst the many murmurings there may be
various conjectures regarding Kavindi’s state of mental
health, her suicide attempt was not one that was planned
or pre-meditated. It was not even one that was isolated,
as her peers who were in the same situation sought the
same measures, indicating theirs to be acts of
desperation and fear as opposed to anything relating to
issues of mental stability.
Poor
moral values
Tarini
de Silva*, 27, is an old girl of Museaus College, who
empathises with Kavindi’s plight as she recalls her own
experiences at school. “School was only ever enjoyable
because of my friends,” she says. “The school offered
poor guidance. ‘Follow The Light’ is the motto, but
light was the last thing they offered, we faced some
dark days there.”
Tarini
relates the story of a classmate who was experiencing
problems at home. During an exam she was one of the
first to finish, and whilst waiting for the exam to end
she had scribbled down some lines of verse about how
much she hated life, school and certain teachers.
Nothing more than an expression of adolescent angst.
When
collecting the answer scripts her class teacher noticed
the poem and seized the paper without her permission
claiming that it contained answers to the exam. Upon
further inspection the teacher realised that the paper
did not in fact contain answers.
Humiliated
“Any
conscientious teacher having read the poem, would have
realised the anguish and hurt the young girl was going
through and perhaps questioned her privately and tried
to help her,” says Tarini. “Maybe they could have spoken
to her parents on her behalf and helped resolve issues
with her family. But instead, the teacher decided to
force the girl to stand next to her at the front of the
classroom and began to read out the poem to the whole
class. All her private thoughts, all her hatred, all her
fears and anxieties were now out in the open for
everyone to listen to and laugh at.
“The
teacher didn’t stop there. She sent the girl with the
poem to every classroom and told her to read it out
again and again. Just to make sure she was utterly
humiliated and lost every vestige of self-respect.”
Similar incidents
Anithra Perera*, also a past pupil of Museaus, has seen
similar incidents of humiliation, and recalls one that
involved a close friend. “As Upper School students we
weren’t allowed to borrow books from the middle school
library. However, the middle school library housed the
Sweet Valley High books. These are books that contain
more teenage issues, such as stories involving
boyfriends, etc. So my friend used to go in, borrow a
book without permission to take home to read and would
then place it back there the next day. She did this
about five times. The sixth time she got caught.
“As
per the normal trend in this school a full-on mud
slinging campaign ensued. Practically the whole school
was informed of her ‘stealing’ a library book. She was
called names by girls she didn’t even know while walking
down corridors and across the ground everyday. Our
friends and all our subject teachers were informed so
that they would know they were dealing with a ‘thief,’
and even her cousin who was a teacher in the nursery was
told. It was meant to humiliate her as much as possible.
And it worked.”
Permanently blacklisted
It is
evident that humiliation was consistently used as a
weapon for punishment. However, the punishment did not
end there. Despite being excellent at rowing, Anithra’s
classmate was denied the post of office bearer for the
school team after being nominated by their coach.
“In
this school, a wrong doing is punished over and over
again. You are never allowed to forget it. The post was
given to another girl just to spite her. That very year
my friend received an external award called ‘Oars Woman
of the Year’ and also won national colours. However she
received no recognition or praise from the school for
this achievement. It was like she had been permanently
blacklisted.”
The
government ban on cellular devices only ‘resolves’ the
problem superficially, and outright dismisses the
practical need for such devices. The subject may be a
sensitive one, but it is imperative that it does not go
unaddressed.
The
urgent issue is not what information or images may have
been stored on the device or that a phone can be used as
an instrument for mischief, but instead what impending
punishment or humiliation instilled in three young girls
such fear that they turned to a very drastic escape
route.
Surely
the pressing concern of the government and the public
should be towards reforming any terror mechanisms in
schools meant to subjugate students and putting in place
correctional measures, and begin working on efficient
implementation of initiatives that encourage
psycho-social counselling and guidance.
Furthermore, the numerous cases of unreported stories of
violence and harassment in schools must also be
accounted for, as it is Colombo schools that receive the
most coverage in such events, so many are unaware of
similar incidents occurring in schools across the
island.
Schools must also require from their teachers not
authoritarian figures but mentors who are constructive
influences in their students’ lives. It is vital that we
ensure that schools are centres of positive learning
experiences and growth as they were originally intended
to be. After all the word ‘school’ is derived from the
Greek schol, meaning ‘leisure,’ not terror.
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