Education should empower children and give them dignity and promote growth in all. We expect schools to provide a safe environment where students can be educated and explore their environment responsibly. But the report reveals shocking problems with how government school children are treated, especially in Mangaluru’s Belthangady. When students in this case were taken like cattle by a goods vehicle during the study tour, it caused outrage and disciplinary action against the headmaster involved.
The study tour was conducted by Headmaster Kiran of a government school in Belthangady. The idea was to bring the kids to a honey farm on a learning trip they would take away from school. Instead of arranging safe and appropriate transport, the children were loaded into a goods vehicle, a means of transport completely unfit and unsafe for school-age students.
Pictures and reports of the incident soon spread and caused criticism from parents, local inhabitants and educational authorities. When kids were packed in a vehicle for carriage of goods, not people, it simply called into question the child's safety and neglect to attend those concerned.
The headmaster was suspended for the subsequent public outcry. Such irresponsible behavior cannot be tolerated, especially when the safety of children is concerned, authorities said. The suspension was to not only serve as a form of punishment but also to alert other schools that there had to be strict adherence to “standards” during educational tours.
The incident adds to broader concerns about infrastructure and planning in government schools. Study tours are important for learning, but they need to be arranged properly: with safe buses and trained people who know their stuff. Using a goods vehicle is both a misjudgment and an absence of resources.
That also points to children’s vulnerability in rural and government schools, in which negligence frequently goes unaddressed until disaster strikes. Schools are trusted to safeguard their children, and such incidents shatter the trust in parents.
Schools should follow strict safety protocols for any educational activity, it must be reported by authorities. We must make available suitable transport facilities compulsory and teachers must be trained to protect students’ well-being. Beyond punishment, there is more to system changes, and systemic change is necessary for children to find access to learning experiences without fear and risk-free learning environments for the kids.
Belthangady is a reminder that education is not only about books and lessons, but also about dignity, safety and accountability. It is disrespectful to treat children as goods. Schools have a responsibility to protect our students to make sure that the journey of education is not only safe and dignified for its students but enriching.
