I AM writing about the report 'Student arrested for assault' (The New Paper, 28 Apr).

I am a single parent of two children, aged 5 and 7. The matter is one that I view seriously.

It is sad that in most cases, the fault is put on the child or his family.

The immediate action is the suspension or expulsion or counselling of the student. But what about the teacher? Shouldn't he or she be investigated, classmates and witnesses be interviewed and action taken?

The Ministry of Education strives to reduce the amount of stress on students by reducing examinations, introducing new teaching methodologies but one important factor that I feel always gets left out is the educator - the teacher.

Do teachers love children or are they just doing the job to earn a living? Are our children happy in school? Do they show enthusiasm every morning to go to school or is it only for certain subjects taught by good teachers?

At the start of every morning in school, you can hear, through the loudspeakers, the discipline head shouting and admonishing the children to 'sit down, be quiet, read your book!'.

How can the children be happy? How can there be no stress? I have witnessed with my own eyes a teacher going around scolding children.

I noticed that some of the children looked so confused. They must be asking themselves, 'what have I done wrong?'.

One 'lesson' at the hallway, in front of many parents, took approximately 15 minutes.

But what can parents do? Parents are generally worried about standing up against the teachers because they want to be in the teacher's good books.

Some parents pray every year that their children not only get into a good school but more importantly, have a good teacher.

My son recently started to shout and when I asked him why he does it, he said because the teachers do it. He asked: 'Aren't we supposed to listen to teachers?'

So, I say, do not just blame the student and the family. Look at the teachers and counsellors. Give the children a chance, listen to them and believe them.

FROM READER GEORGE WONG

This article was first published in The New Paper.