KUCHING: Both teachers and students must be guided in order to prevent a repeat of the incident which involved a secondary school male teacher caning a female student in Johor Bahru.
Mental Health Association Sarawak (MHAS) chairman Dr Ismail Drahman said people as emotional beings sometimes act irrationally, but physical aggression should be avoided.
“In my opinion, I can’t say who is right and wrong. A teacher should act accordingly if he wants to guide a student to be a mature adult.
“And students should be given knowledge on how to mentally prepare themselves to be adults,” he said.
According to him, there is a need to look into the primary source of triggering factors that led to the incident.
“Student says negative comments to teacher because he or she may feel that the particular teacher has been unfair to her. The teacher, on the other hand, feels like correcting the student who does not follow school discipline.
“Therefore, we need to look at the root cause of the issue. What triggered it? No sane person will all of a sudden comment negatively towards another person he or she knows. There has to be some disagreement at some point.”
He advised people against making judgment just by watching the video or photos of the student’s injury that went viral.
He also warned netizens against taking sides, saying supporting the girl could very well make her think that what she did was right.
“She could very well do it again in the future as she was made to believe that her action was right,” he said.
She must be guided to learn what is wrong and right, he added.
Meanwhile, a college lecturer Nabillah, 34, said caning may not be the answer to teaching children.
“Back in the old days, caning was one of the methods used to teach students to ensure that they didn’t misbehave.
“Serious research must be done to find something to replace the cane,” she said.
Secondary school teacher Florence Tan, 43, said both the teacher and the student were wrong.
“The student should not make such offensive remark towards a teacher, at the same time a teacher should not have reacted the way he did,” Tan said.
Tan, who is also a mother, said the rule is that only the principal can cane students.
Cynthia, a mother of three, said caning should be done to certain areas of the body, the palm especially.
“I believe there is a guideline to that,” she added.
