An open letter from a Bahrain student to the grownups

On October 11, 2015, the News of Bahrain had published a story about a 12-year-old Indian boy who had reportedly gone missing from his school. Sigan Moorthy, a class 6 student of the Indian School Bahrain, was found a few hours later in Sitra. He was safe. Sigan was new to Bahrain and knew mainly to speak the Tamil language, said our report.

His sister also studies in the same school. According to sources, the boy had just written an exam on the day before he went missing. He got into his designated school bus, handed over a note written in Tamil to the driver and got down from the bus. The driver, who was from another part of India, could not read the language. A little while later, his sister boarded the bus and the driver handed over the note to her.

Reliable sources from the school told us that the note said the boy was going away and would not return. The sister informed a few teachers who were standing nearby. A search for the child was launched immediately though the boy was nowhere to be found. A police complaint had been filed then.

The news went viral on social media with people sharing the post so that word reached as many people as possible. People were upset and disturbed by the news. Everyone prayed for the boy’s safe return. Finally when he was found, News of Bahrain published the update, thanking the people of Bahrain for their help.

Everything was back to normal and people returned to what they were doing. The incident was forgotten. More sensational news came up. Until a couple of days ago, when we received a disturbing, rather thought-provoking, private message in our inbox.

It was from another student of the same school. He wanted to talk about the incident but he didn’t know whom to talk to. Who would listen to a kid? Who would take him seriously? He had overheard a disturbing conversation between two teachers from the school regarding the missing boy. According to them “such boys should be beaten up and locked up in a room.”

This was their ‘solution’ for kids who ‘ran away’. He wondered why grownups did not realise that violence would only ‘destroy’ the child and was not the solution. He then started worrying about the response the child may be getting from students and staff of the school following his return.

News of Bahrain realised the genuine concern for his fellow student and encouraged him to write down what he felt. He was reluctant at first because he believes that a child’s voice would not be accepted by anyone. We tried to convince him otherwise.

And finally he agreed and sent us his thoughts in writing a couple of hours later. News of Bahrain has done minimal editing on the letter, just correcting typo errors. Below is a message; raw from the heart of a teenager (who has had no formal training in writing) to the ‘brutal’ world he lives in.

“When I came back home after school last day, I ran and took up my phone and started going through all the notifications. 56 Whatapp messages, not bad, 3 messages on Facebook, pretty good and I went on to check my news feed. It was all filled with the photo of a boy studying in our school who went missing. This wasn't much of a shock to me. It is quite common that little kids do enter the wrong bus and end up somewhere else. The next day went well in school and I was on my return trip back home. I overheard teachers talking about this kid who went missing. And then one of the teachers reacted to this conversation about this incident and all she said was "Boys like this should be beaten and locked up in a room". I was speechless. And when I learnt that she teaches Social Science, I was shocked. That was something that I had least expected. A Social Science teacher who frames students in their character as to how to behave in the society and how to showcase an ideal attitude, was talking like this. I was dumbstruck. I understand I may not be able to change everyone's attitude. It depends on how they have been brought up and I wouldn't blame them completely. But rather than a boss-employee relationship with a child, I'd rather suggest a parent/teacher to have a friend-friend relationship because we as children, trust in our friends more. Such boss-employee attitude doesn’t work with us kids. It just scares us and we become afraid to share our most intimate secrets, which might require a great deal of attention especially from elders. Teachers were saying that the boy didn't want to go back home and he purposefully took a wrong bus. As a child, even I do have this tendency at times. But reacting to this situation by beating him and locking him up doesn't help. Parents/teachers have to spend time with him and understand what was the reason behind his attempt to run away! We wish that they talked like such good friends so that we get right solutions for our problems but most often, this is not the case and this builds pressure inside us. And when these children grow up, the society blames the education system under which these kids were trained. But try analysing the situation, was the education system faulty? It was because they never had the right kind of support in their developing ages. A kid's mind is like fresh clay. You can make anything with it. And whatever actions you perform, it is going to have a non-erasable impression in his/her mind. And this forms the foundation for his adulthood. I am a kid of 17, and I tend to understand my fellow mates very well and I do offer them regular counselling and advices in various situations. Why do most of the western countries have successful people and society does not comment about them in such a manner? It's mainly because their parents behave in a much more friendly manner and they build that trust in their children. Give us a chance; give us a chance to be open and free with you. We wish that deeply. I know it's near impossible to change your attitude now, but there's no harm in trying. That attempt to change itself brings about a change in us and we start confiding in you. Give us that chance, and we'll show you how many superpowers could be created in this world other than USA, Russia and France. And society, please stop judging us. You've no right to comment on our lives. My life, my rules. And we don't really care about you. But please don't play a negative role in our lives such that we, potential kids become useless. I might not be right on this view of mine, I am just 17 and I know you have your concerns as well regarding your kid. I felt that this issue was something that should be addressed urgently because we kids, never voice out our problems and this doesn't mean that we don't have any problems at all. Please try to understand us and let this not fall on any deaf ears.”

Disclaimer: This piece is not meant to defame the school, the child, his family or the community. This is only an eye-opener - for parents, for teachers, for children, for society. News of Bahrain is only being the mouthpiece for millions of children who cannot have their voices heard. So please don’t shoot the messenger. We have promised to keep the letter writer's identity confidential and shall not break it at any cost.

Compiled by Begena George Pradeep