It is getting harder to protect our children alone in public

NOT every lesson is like that in the book of American writer Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie.

I am writing this letter after reading the news in your last edition (Cyprus Today, January 13) about a teacher suspended after a joint complaint of abuse.

It is getting harder and harder to protect our children while they are alone in public, and that is why it is important to teach them how to protect themselves nowadays. I think the first lesson for our schoolchildren should be about their rights, in order to make them stronger than they think they are.

Children must also know that if they are being bullied (by a teacher or a student), they should fight back. Most of them are happy with ignoring problems in their lives; if noone knows, it is as if it is not happening. The silence of the victim feeds the courage of the tyrant, doesn’t it? Knowledge that they have backup support, which may be themselves or their rights, can make them feel like they are already armoured.

Moreover, I cannot stop over-thinking about children in the system as well. Are we protective enough of every child in the world? It is written in the story that parents stood up for their kids. What if an orphan was subjected to abuse in school? We must be brave enough to be the backup for a kid who needs us.

Also, I do not want to skip your journalism ethics in a sensitive story like this one. Giving a space to the teacher’s voice was the right thing to do, whether or not he did a bad thing. Thank you for your journalistic balance. Please practise your investigative journalism for vulnerable kids who need a voice as well.