The academic future of a student depends on a lot of factors other than just studies. No student in the world wants to see himself failing. But circumstances play a vital role in their mental growth.
The situations include discrimination based on race, community, disability, and certain other factors. If a student is discriminated against for any reason, he might not perform well in any area.
Discrimination is an evil which has the potential to hinder the psychological growth of possibly everyone on the planet earth. Children learn the differences on their own, but it is the society that teaches them to divide on the basis of these differences. Misunderstanding and fear mostly transform into discrimination at the end.
Teachers at school and for that matter, at any student care centre must take care of the rights of every student. Here are the tips that must be considered to control discrimination among students.
Draft an Anti-Discrimination Policy
When someone is the phase of growth, he cannot afford to keep balance once he gets discriminated for whatever reason. The challenge is real. Know that it is legally prohibited to discriminate against anyone. The first thing that can be done to prevent this crime from happening is to draft a policy which clearly mentions the unacceptable and the consequences of doing what is prohibited.
Tell every Student about the Policy
Students sometimes don’t pay attention to the hoardings and posters. It must be the priority of the teachers to let students that bullying at school and discriminating against anyone on whatever basis is a crime.
Make the Environment Inclusive
Keeping the environment at school friendly for every student is necessary. There’s no denial of the fact that a lot of students come from a different background at the same school. But everyone must feel included. To do this, make sure the classrooms, libraries, and any public areas in the school are designed inclusive, that is; anyone can use it without any hassle. Any biased material must be removed as soon as possible.
Address their Concerns
Never ever shift the topic when a student comes up with a question or a concern. Try to answer or resolve it on the spot. This has to be done for every single child in the school. Let every student in the school know and understand that you care for them in every aspect. Make sure that the students feel safe in the school.
Let Everyone Participate
There can be a moment when you have invited the entire class to participate in an activity. But unfortunately, it is almost impossible for a disabled student to do so. What can you do then? Ask other potent students to help him out so that he can contribute to the project in whatever way he can. This way, they will learn to respect each other.
Do not ignore the Discriminatory Behaviour
What we encounter most often is that the authorities make the rules, but they never implement them properly. There’s nothing good about the improper execution of the policies. Mention the consequences that one has to face if he is found joking around the same. Not to say, the rules should be implemented and the violator must be punished so that others take a lesson from the same.
Do not Humiliate Anyone
It is completely natural for everyone to make mistakes. Students are no exception here. But behaving rudely to someone who has made a mistake is not the solution. This unkind behavior of teachers can spark the feelings of resentment in the students. The best you can do for a student in one such case is to let him know where he is wrong, politely, and what he can do to avoid similar episodes in the coming future.
Along with the academics, teach them moral values
Teaching mathematics, science, and other subjects is crucial, but it is equally necessary to teach them empathy and moral values. This is important because empathy not only reduces the aggression among students; it creates a refreshing environment for the teachers as well. Again, it is natural for a teacher to discriminate against a student. But by teaching values to the students, a teacher will also learn it in the process.
Understand the Social Differences
If in case a student unintentionally makes a statement about cultural or social differences, the worst thing you can do is to discourage his observations. Discuss about the social differences in the class and teach students about it. They learn only when someone is there to guide. Answer their questions and make them understand the differences in detail.
Involve & Inform their Parents
Conduct meetings with the parents of the students so they can know what their child is learning. Also, tell them about the questions that their children ask and the answers that you give. This is to ensure that students don’t get different answers for the same question from different people. If it happens, well, students get confused quickly.
Don’t be Biased
No teacher in his right mind would ever announce that, okay! I’ll be teaching only white guys today. But the way it has been done resembles the statement. More often than not, teachers ask male students to get up and answer to a particular question, or participate in an event. It does not reflect that they do not want girls to participate. It’s just habitual to call boys instead of girls. But the other gender feels like being discriminated against, whenever something like this happens.
Final Note
Students learn a lot from adults. Any action that you take is being observed by a child somewhere around the corner. Make sure to decide on to your actions hundreds of time before you feel like not doing it after it has been done. Because once a student has seen you doing something, he might as well try to copy it. What’s worse is that he is more likely to succeed. So, always keep an eye on yourself so that no student can learn any bad thing from you.
