Students complain of harsh discipline due to FB, Instagram

The school, having sexualised the incident and terming it ‘indecent and scandalous’ has resisted all attempts to restore the students into admission, even as a protest march has been planned by the Kerala Students Union in January. The school authorities, reportedly, even hacked into the girl’s private Instagram account and collected pictures as ‘evidence’ of the student’s misdemeanor.

However, the one positive outcome of this incident? School and college students across the country expressing outrage at the ridiculous moral policing prevalent in educational institutions and sharing their own stories on social media, under various hashtags. Many across Tamil Nadu have also described their brushes with harassment at schools, being slut-shamed and victimised by teachers and having their privacy breached. 

“My parents were called to school and asked to take me to counselling, because my principal saw some of my pictures on Facebook with other boys at a birthday party. My grades were excellent and I’m a model student, but they termed me a ‘bad influence’ as I’d hang out with boys after school. Furthermore, they asked other classmates and their parents not to associate with me as I might ‘spoil’ them,” recalls S Avantika, a high school student from Chennai. Teachers may argue that there are cases when a teenage romances or be in a relationship, it might result in the students being distracted or get worsened. In fact, there are occasions when interference is absolutely required to stop a student from straying too far. However, where should the line be drawn between teaching discipline and harassing? 

PK Niranjana, a Class 10 student of a private institution in Coimbatore, says some of the teachers are even homophobic and term ‘girls’ lesbians. “Forget talking to boys, even talking to girls sometimes has been frowned upon! Two of my friends were seen holding hands and laughing over something; the headmaster insulted them so badly, that one of them quit school the next year.” 

Many posted about being scared to have active accounts on the likes of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram as teachers warn them of strict action if they find any unparliamentary language being used or controversial pictures posted. Some, despite having used all security measures, had been called in and asked to remove the posts or deactivate profiles by the authorities, who had also informed their parents. 

It’s not restricted to girls, boys have it just as bad. Samuel N, a first-year engineering student in the city, says that he and his friend were both suspended along with a girl for commenting on her make-up. “We were just having a laugh and telling her (also their friend) that her kajal looked pretty. Someone informed our HOD who not only accused the girl of wearing accessories and letting her hair loose to seduce the boys, but told us off for having ‘indecent gazes’. Our parents had to go through hell and back to resolve the issue eventually. We understand that professors are concerned about our behaviour on campus, but not at the cost of victimising us. Teachers can make or break our lives – I hope they realise it.”