Rehabilitation from bad behaviour should start in school

Just like the many Malaysians out there, I was appalled to read the story of Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin, a Malaysian student from Imperial College, London who was sentenced to prison for possessing more than 30,000 images and 600 videos of child pornography.

It was disturbing to read about the fact that the images were some of the most extreme the police had ever seen. When the public called for him not to be given a second chance and to be punished in Malaysia, I agreed with them wholeheartedly. After all, he had paedophilic tendencies and should be kept far away from our children.

But in the midst of my anger and wanting to pass judgement on Nur Fitri, I realised something important. If I had a student like Nur Fitri in my class whom I knew watched or possessed child pornography, I wouldn't know what to do.

As a teacher, I am not theoretically equipped with the knowledge to deal with students who needed special help. Sadly, I do not think our schools let alone our entire society is ready to deal with these special cases.

Nur Fitri's example also led me to think about the things happening in my classroom.

I have a particular student who loses her temper so fast that she would pick any item she sees to throw it at her friends. Her recent outburst involved throwing a chair. All my attempts to talk to her were futile and I know referring her to the school counselor would get her punished for her actions.

I didn't want her to be punished. I wanted someone to help her deal with her anger issues. But, where do I go for help like this?

As teachers, we see a mixture of characters in class. Sometimes, and quite sadly, we also know the kind of adults they might turn out to be.

A student who likes to steal in school might end up robbing a bank one day. A student who bullies his friends might end up a road bully one day.

If schools are a reflection of our society, then shouldn't we be dealing with these problems in school?

We hardly ever opt for rehabilitation for these children because we are so used to punishment.

For the student who steals, we cane them. For the students who play truant, we cane them. Ironically, for the students who refuse to come to school, we suspend them from school.

We deal with problems by punishing our kids instead of helping them deal with it. 

I believe, students who are punished hardly ever learn to cope with any sort of habit they are struggling with. Most times, they stop doing it out of fear. When an ideal opportunity arises for them to do it again, they would, in a heartbeat.

As a society, we do not have an ideal system to help rehabilitate students who are different from their peers. We praise our students who are compliant and punish our students who are not.

Going back to the case of Nur Fitri, it was easy for everyone (myself included) to call him names and call for his punishment. But think about it. In a society that slut shames and has no proper laws for child pornography cases, are we really worthy to judge him for his actions?

Nur Fitri was a product of our school system that did not provide him with an avenue to talk about what he was going through without being punished. Can you imagine him going up to a teacher or his parent to explain to them his addiction? If we call him a monster, it is only because we created that monster.

For me, as an educator, I see the case of Nur Fitri as a desperate call for action for us to help our students by putting in place proper rehabilitation methods to deal with their differences.

This is a wake-up call that even the best and brightest among us still need a moral compass to help them navigate through life.

It is a reality check that we are still far from being an ideal education system because we ignore these warning signs we see in our kids, as we are so busy looking at the number of A's they've scored.

In the quest to push our students for academic achievement, have we forgotten to imbue in them the right values? – May 14, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.