A comment that was made by a mother who phoned up The Malta Independent offices to complain about the behaviour of a particular teacher deserves to be given attention. The comment was published in last Monday’s “Odds and ends” column in this newspaper.

The mother reported that one of her son’s teachers offended his pupils by using words or expressions such as “donkey”, “I have to look at your ugly faces” and other remarks when addressing students in his class. The woman was afraid to speak up fearing that there would be repercussions against her son if the comment was traced back to her.

Upon reading the column, Education Minister Dolores Cristina personally called up this newspaper to find out more details about the incident. Her intentions were to identify the school and the teacher in question so as to take the necessary action. But the mother adamantly refused to give the editor of this newspaper permission to give the minister the name of her son’s school or the name of the teacher, believing that her son would suffer the consequences.

This newspaper appreciates the interest that was shown by Minister Cristina, but ethics do stop us from revealing the name of the school or the name of the teacher in question. Yet, this example gives us the chance to discuss an issue that is not given too much importance, although it could unfortunately have a negative effect on young children.

This newspaper understands the plight of the mother, who feels trapped in between wanting to bring what is happening in her son’s class to the attention of the authorities but at the same time thinking that such action could harm her son even more. What she fears is that her son would become the teacher’s favourite target, and she did mention that her son could perhaps be given a lower mark than he deserves in the coming exams if she were to speak up.

At the same time, this newspaper also understands the minister’s interest in such a matter and her frustration in not being able to confront the situation head-on. She really was disappointed that she could not take the matter further.

Seeing the inability to go beyond this general complaint, we take the opportunity to highlight the importance of the way teachers behave and especially the way they address their students when in class. They should, in no way, abuse of their authority.

They are dealing with young people who are still growing and forming themselves, and comments such as the ones mentioned above should be avoided at all costs. We have thankfully moved on from the times when students used to be insulted and sometimes even physically punished for their misbehaviour in school. We should not go back to a situation where students are verbally offended either.

Of course, it must be pointed out that this is one teacher we are talking about. The majority of teachers in schools respect their students and do their utmost to impart their knowledge and help the young ones improve. Most of them also would never even think of using such language in a class.

But it must be brought to the attention of those few exceptions that it is wrong to call students “donkeys” and treat them without respect. Many students are intelligent enough to take this in their stride, but there are many others who will take the insults personally and this might lead to repercussions. School administrations would also do well to remind all their teachers to behave as they should.

The teacher in question – and others who act like him – should understand that he is not doing the right thing.