Nikkammi Behenjis (ineffective female teachers)

Recently, I came across this news article in Ludhiana Tribune in which it has been reported that indiscipline is on the rise in government schools due to a decrease in the number of male teachers.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120211/ldh1.htm#6

The reason that less men are being hired is that now selection to these teaching posts can't be made on the basis of gender i.e. only qualifications will be considered (I had no clue that this was not the case at one point of time). So apparently more females are qualifying now that the decision is based purely on merit (gasp!) and the result has been a decrease in discipline. You ask why?According to one unnamed source it is because male teachers have a "stricter" approach towards students and they can understand their psychological problems much better. Another renowned educationist thinks that another aspect to this meritorious selection of teachers is that the female teachers are subjecting the students to rote learning.

So, here is my analysis of the problems highlighted in this story and my take on them:

Problem: Female teachers who are otherwise better qualified to teach than their male counterparts are physically weak and are inept in psychological evaluation of students..
My take: The B.Ed curriculum for women needs to be modified to include weight-training, martial arts, etc so that they can better control the classroom. This should be coupled with extensive course-work in psychology.This is apparently more important than knowing your subject matter and how to present  it to the students. Of course it would make no sense for the principal/school administraton to implement policies which would help improve discipline or for the school to hire a counsellor for helping kids with psychological issues.

Problem: Women are not being creative enough in the classroom and are stifling the students' creativity and potential.
My take: If that is the case, those women are not to be blamed, it is probably the way their teachers (who were most likely males because of the predominantly male work-force in India till recently) taught them.
I am no fan of rote learning, but that is the way 95% of learning is done in India-a change needs to be brought about but don't blame it all on the women.

As much as I love all things Punjabi, the way in which women/girls are treated in our society makes me feel ashamed of being a Punjabi. Don't get me wrong,there are quite a few Punjabi families that don't discriminate between their sons and daughters at all and who absolutely dote on their daughters. There are also a number of people who respect women in general but the bitter truth is that the vast majority of people in Punjab would prefer having a son rather than a daughter. This fact need no further illustration than a look at the female to male ratio of Punjab which stands at 893 females/1000 males. A lot has been said and written on this topic and although I am glad that the 2011 census shows a slight improvement in the sex ratio over the ratio in 2001, fact is that female foeticide is still so rampant that a lot of people think of it as natural and justifiable. It is justified because a daughter is considered to be a burden on the parents, someone whom they will have to feed and protect for a number of years before she can be married off with the marriage itself  "costing" the family a lot.On the other hand, a son is considered as someone who will take the family name forward, be a support for parents in their old age and with luck, his marriage will bring in goodies in the form of dowry.

Women have been struggling hard and fighting long to change this state of things-they are performing much better academically than boys, they are becoming an integral part of the work-force and are taking on multiple resposibilities-both at home and at work and doing a good job of it. I am appalled that views like the ones discussed above, can be considered newsworthy in today's day and age where women are doing as well or much better than men in every professional arena. Portraying them as weak and inept, who despite their qualifications are ineffective in the classroom, is in my view a step backwards in the efforts to change the way in which women are treated in our society and a reinforcement of the negative perception of women's worth and abilities.