xi's moments
Home | Opinion Line

Teachers now empowered to discipline ill-behaved students

By Li Yang | China Daily | Updated: 2020-12-31 07:27

Students attend class at Beijing National Day School - Longyue in the Haidian district of Beijing on May 11, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Ministry of Education on Wednesday introduced a long-awaited rule for ensuring discipline in primary and middle schools.

The rule, which will come into effect on March 1, stipulates that schools and teachers can take disciplinary action when students commit acts of disobedience, engage in disorderly conduct, endanger others' safety, or infringe on others' rights.

The rule triggered heated discussions because while most people agree that teachers should be empowered to enforce discipline by punishing students and correcting their behaviors, there is no unanimity on how far the teachers can go.

Those supporting the rule feel that after years of lacking the sanction to punish problematic students, educators can finally exercise their long due rights to discipline the bad apples. Those opposing the rule feel it might infringe upon students' legal rights and interests.

However, the argument of neither side holds water. Anyone reading the rule carefully will see that it sets clear behavioral limits for both educators and students, and if it is well implemented, the rule is neither going to increase teachers' power nor harm students' interests, as it is primarily designed to normalize and regulate implementation of disciplinary measures in education, rather than sanctioning punishment for the sake of punishment.

In the first place, physical and psychological punishments are strictly prohibited in school; disciplinary action can only be taken for the purpose of education and "always with love for students".

The rule classifies student behavior inviting disciplinary action into different categories and degrees, matching disciplinary measures with them accordingly.

And the measures lay emphasis on stopping wrong behavior in a timely manner and face-to-face communication between students and teachers and school disciplinary instructors.

Implementing the rule will help ensure discipline in the field of education and maintain a normal teaching-and-learning environment on campuses. It will bring about positive results. And the rule is expected to be further adjusted to meet the demands of practice, and realize its desired purposes.

Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349