And we trust them with our kids?

We really should be looking more into the psychological profiles of our school teachers.

Image hosting by PhotobucketLast week, Delmar Redota, a nine year-old second grade pupil of the Silangan Elementary School in Barangay Upper Bicutan passed away, a week after being forced to eat pencil shavings by a teacher as punishment for supposedly being mischievous. The ingestion of pencil shavings apparently led to the girl contracting tonsilitis and pneumonia, which led to her death. Read the full story here on INQ7.net.

The teacher, Brenda Elbambuena, is believed to be in hiding.

The victim's mother, Diana Redota, for one reason or another, or perhaps due to lack of resources, doesn't seem to be inclined to press charges, and only wishes for her daughter have a decent burial.

Considering that teachers exercise substitute parental authority and are responsible for our children's safety whenever they are in school, I think Elbambuena should be made to answer for the grim fate suffered by Delmar.

Surely we can't ignore this act of cruelty which led to the untimely death of a girl yet to reach her prime. She deserves nothing less than justice.

I remember a similar personal experience more than twenty years ago when I was still in elementary school. A teacher (teaching religion, no less) threw a toy rubber frog at me when the back of my chair which was being pulled by a classmate created a thud when it hit the wall behind me. The toy frog hit me smack in the face and caused my nose to bleed. My parents, out of mercy for the teacher who kept on apologizing afterwards, did not press any charges. A year or so after the incident, I heard the teacher had another outburst and injured yet another student. She obviously has some serious anger management problems.

Her apology notwithstanding, I think my parents should have just filed charges instead. It could have prevented the second incident, and sent a clear message that teachers, whether in public or private schools, should also accord students proper respect and not to vent their anger on them. Teachers with personality issues have no place in schools. While corporal punishment in classrooms may or may not be acceptable (this is a different debate altogether), punishment which causes injuries of any sort or maybe even death in the extreme, should absolutely not be tolerated, and the teachers guilty of this practice punished to the full extent of the law.

If I ever see that teacher who threw that toy frog at my face again (I still remember her name and what she looks like) I'll be sure to give her a piece of my mind. People like that have no business teaching children. And if you think about it, I was lucky. All I went through was a nosebleed. Delmar Redota lost her life.

I can only imagine what I would do if it were my child. There would certainly be hell to pay.

Comments

Anonymous said…
While I admire people in the teaching profession, there are those who are not fit for the job and this is definitely a big worry for most parents. Just imagine some of the troubles students have to face with some of these teachers:

1. Discrimination
2. Favoritism
3. Racism
4. Prejudices
5. Incompetence
6. Lack of diplomatic approach to encourage and motivate students
7. God knows what else…

An excellent school can have its share of the bad apples. Do you as a parent tolerate it? I don’t. I usually bring up pressing issues with the administrator of the school making certain they take care of my complaints and satisfy my concerns. If not, I would file a complaint with the Board of Education, Dept. of Education etc.

“Hey! If you don’t like how we operate, take your child somewhere else” This phrase is not good enough for me especially when I pay the school to teach my son. With tuition fees constantly going up, teachers in the union frequently striking to fight for more pay - moving your child to another school is not going to fix the declining educational system. Gather enough information from other students experiencing similar problems, and get other parents to sign a petition or perhaps a witness statement before saying, “How about a letter from my lawyer?”

Learning should be made without “FEAR”. Hitler tactics in schools should not be allowed to intimidate our kids. In fact, they should not be allowed to teach. Psychologically, this can be very traumatic for young children entering pre-school and up to grade school. For those in the intermediate level (high school) most of them have a mind of their own, some of them are able to deal and manage whatever it is that is pressuring and stressing them while the downside cause many teens to cut classes.

In any case, it’s easier to file a complaint here in North America. In P.I., I would assume those who can afford “the money talks” are privileged.
Anonymous said…
That's the problem with our public school system. They hire incompetent and unqualified teachers (if they can be called that), not to mention those with psychotic tendencies...
*lynne* said…
ugh - mental/emotional stability of teachers is definitely something that *should* be looked at.. .but hey, when the competence of teachers is oftentimes overlooked, can we be surprised that other things like stability gets overlooked?

It's sad that a child as a result...

is there going to be a serious long-term plan to ensure thing slike this don't hapen again, or will thing sjust go back to normal once the news dies out?
Anonymous said…
Competent or not, the teacher had committed a serious crime and justice is called for. Teachers are supposed to educate our kids and not torture or kill them. I am aghast that the police dept nor the dept of education are doing nothing to arrest and prosecute this criminal.

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