Still bitter with teacher

READING about the tragic death of M. Vasantha Piriya, who hanged herself after being accused of stealing a mobile phone in her school, brought back bitter memories of when I was accused of stealing 70 sen by a female class teacher in my school. It was in 1971 and I was studying in a government primary English school in Perak. I was nine years old and in Year 4.

As was the practice then, non-Malay pupils were encouraged to take a third language. After toying between Mandarin and Tamil, my parents felt it was more beneficial for me to learn the former. To attend Mandarin class, where I was the only non-Chinese student, I had to walk to another class, and the teacher was a male Chinese. The rest of my non-Muslim classmates went to their respective classes while the Muslim students went for their Islamic studies.

One day, the permanent teacher of the classroom that was used for Mandarin lessons discovered that she had lost 70 sen. Apparently, she had collected the said amount from her class students purportedly to buy some exercise books. For reasons only known to herself, she left the money in a wooden panel behind her desk.

While I was in my classroom, a pupil from the other class came to tell me that the class teacher wanted to see me. At her desk and in full view of her pupils and in an overbearing manner, she accused me of stealing the money during the Mandarin lesson in her classroom.

I proclaimed my innocence and informed her that on the day the theft happened, there were many pupils standing around the teacher’s desk. But she ignored my explanation and accused me of lying.

She made me swear in the name of God and then recited the divine retributions I would receive if I was lying. But I insisted on my innocence, saying that misfortune would strike me if I lied.

At only nine years of age, and like Vasantha Piriya, I was overpowered by a teacher who was hell-bent on accusing and punishing me. She became the judge, jury and prosecutor all rolled into one.

Apparently, some pupils in her class made this unwarranted accusation against me and she believed them without getting any evidence whatsoever.

After she dismissed me, I went back to my class quietly, frightened and ashamed. I did not tell my parents even though I was really angry at the unfounded accusation and the embarrassment it had done on me.

As fate would have it, the following year when I moved up to Year 5, I was registered to the same class where I had been accused of stealing but there was a different teacher in charge.

But a stigma had been cast on me and my classmates began to view me negatively. There were insinuations that I was a thief and some of them challenged me to swear on my mother’s name in front of them to defend my innocence. I swallowed my pride and ignored them all.

Furthermore, whenever something went missing, fingers would immediately be pointed at me.

When I was promoted to Year 6, the teacher who had earlier accused me was my permanent class teacher. As I was within her grasp, she occasionally tried to pick on me but I stood my ground.

It has been 47 years since the incident but it continues to haunt me even though I am almost 56 years of age now.

I believe the class teacher completely failed in ensuring justice and fair play as she chose to accept the baseless accusations of her 10-year-old pupils. What happened to the old adage that a person is innocent until proven guilty?

Till now, I am still in the dark over why I was the only one accused when there were many other pupils attending the Mandarin class. I believe the teacher who would have been about 26 at that time should have exhibited maturity and fair play. She could have summoned my parents rather than bully me. At least my parents would have been there to defend me.

I also felt it was her fault for keeping the money in the desk instead of taking it with her. I believe she was hiding her own weakness and I was her scapegoat.

I have graduated from university both locally and overseas and am currently working in a senior position in the public sector.

If I were to bump into the said class teacher unexpectedly, I would have only one thing to say to her: “I did not take your 70 sen and what you did to me was wrong!” That incident caused me a lot of grief.