Teachers are facing alarming levels of abuse from students due to the ban on corporal punishment, says Fijian Teachers Association general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga.
Speaking to The Fiji Times, Mr Manumanunitoga claimed teachers are being sworn at, spat on, given the middle finger, and even physically assaulted.
“Students give you faces, student can spit at you, student can give you the middle finger,” he said.
“For female teachers, they would get these sexual remarks from boys, and in one case I was told that a student just tripped the leg of a teacher, and the teacher fell.
“One pulled a female teacher’s hair, pulled her hair at the back while the teacher was walking.”
He said such behaviour is taking a toll on teachers’ mental health.
“How would you feel if somebody gave you the finger? How would you feel if somebody swore at you?
“How would you feel if somebody just grabbed his pencil case and threw it at your face and it hit you?
“All that is psychological. It’s mental. It gets into your head.”
The association believes the ban on corporal punishment, alongside a zero-tolerance policy on teacher discipline, has removed the fear of consequences among students.
“As soon as they leave home, especially the iTaukei students, they think they live in a world without rules. There is no longer respect for elders, let alone teachers.”
He said teachers are being unfairly blamed for poor student outcomes while struggling in silence.
“We are doing our best under extremely difficult conditions.
“If we don’t restore discipline soon, we are heading for a total collapse of respect and order in our education system.”
