(Dev Lahiri has been Headmaster of Lovedale and Welham Boys and has also served as House Master at Doon School)It has taken a tragedy of the nature that has occurred at the Scindia School to draw the nation's attention to what has been, for quite a while, a problem of almost endemic proportions in schools across the country, but more so in boarding schools.
What is the nature of this beast and why is it so boldly on the prowl amongst our vulnerable school-goers? Before we embark on an attempted analysis, it would be useful to make and understand the distinction between "ragging" and "bullying". Ragging is more in the nature of a rite of initiation, practised in our colleges and universities. The warped defense often offered is that this barbaric practice somehow creates a great bonding between the perpetrator and the victim. It is in the nature of 'hazing', a similar barbaric rite practiced at many American military institutions. It is usually practiced for a set period of time and has a defined beginning and end.
Bullying, on the other hand, is the systematic traumatization of weaker and most often, younger students by stronger and older ones. A victim can often be bullied throughout his/her school life, and the practice is often more pernicious in boarding schools, steeped as they are in a hierarchical culture ( prefectorial system etc), and given the greater opportunities for this kind of behavior by virtue of the proximity that seniors and juniors live in, and the lengthy periods of unsupervised time they spend together (as, for instance, after "lights-out").
The reasons for the existence, and indeed the deep-rootedness in our school culture, of this evil are many. First of all, our children grow up in a society where they see the acceptability of 'bully-like' behavior, if not actual bullying, at many levels. Domestic help is treated very badly in some of our homes. Parents have no hesitation in marching to school and 'bullying ' school authorities over some perceived injustice to their child. Want extra leave to attend a wedding? No problem. 'Papa' will phone 'Minister Uncle' who will suitably browbeat the Principal.
While I was Principal of a prestigious boarding school, a group of parents hired a bunch of goons to beat me up as I had quarantined the school on account of a bird-flu epidemic which unfortunately coincided with Diwali!
There is also this to consider - very few heads of schools receive any training at all for the execution of their responsibilities. Far from an understanding of adolescent psychology, they have no idea of the legal responsibilities they must shoulder. And very few, unfortunately, have leadership training or qualities. Bullying thrives most where there is a lack of trust between the school management and students.
In one school that I headed, the infrastructure was woeful (stinking toilets, for example) and the students felt a deep sense of neglect which often manifested itself in vicious behavior.
As a corollary, bullying thrives where the victims believe in a 'conspiracy of silence', because they know that if they report the matter, it will only invite serious reprisal from seniors, and no protection from the authorities. The absence of a clear-cut disciplinary structure with clearly spelt out consequences, the changing of decisions on account of pressure exerted by powerful people, a lack of respect for the opinion of a student body - all of these foster a culture of bullying.
Bullying also does not happen overnight. It is a culture that, given the right nutrients, grows slowly, much like a fungus. When a school starts winking at supposedly minor infringements such as unpunctuality, violations of the dress code, a lack of respect for rules on the sports field, it creates a leadership vacuum which can be gradually taken over by adolescents, much like "Lord of the Flies." And we all know what that can lead to. Once again, all this is a direct consequence of poor, unprofessional leadership.
In some institutions, bullying just happens to be part of the DNA. One particular school that I headed had a very strong military ethos, and at my very first assembly, a senior said to me, "We join this school expecting to be bullied and to bully". As simple as that. Alumni sometimes play a great role in perpetuating the myth that "a little bullying only helps toughen you up." Once a school accepts that philosophy, it is the beginning of a slippery slope.
The truth is that bullying is here to stay-until such time as we take the entire business of school education as seriously as we do our management and IIT programs, and invest in, and respect our teachers and school heads, and make the process of education a genuine collaboration between all sections- parents, students, teachers and civil society.
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