In the ephemeral world of Facebook, there is only so much time to take anything seriously. Or so one imagined, before two groups of students, in two separate incidents, were suspended by school authorities for posting abusive comments on their teachers.
The suspensions have raised issues about freedom of expression in social networking groups like Facebook, about privacy amongst ‘friends’ who one may not even know personally, and about when a ‘private’ comment about a ‘public’ body like a school or an institution in a social network site then becomes ‘ and ‘public’ and open to action.
In the normal course, students post comments on their school authorities or their teachers. Their ‘friends’ express their likes or add their comments. Soon, the friends have moved on to another status report, another set of comments and likes and sharing of posts and photos...But this time, authorities in both schools took offence.
The three-month suspension of 16 Class XII students in Chandigarh’s Vivek High School for posting abusive comments about their teacher comes barely a few months after a similar week-long suspension of six students of Convent of Jesus and Mary in Vadodara, this time for casting aspersions on the role of teachers in a school election.
While the suspension of the Vadodara girls were revoked when they apologised, the fate of the Chandigarh students still hangs in balance and will be decided today.
According to news-reports, a student of the school (name withheld) was angry at his math teacher for his low grades. He posted an image of his test scores along with ‘rude and abusive’ remarks about the teacher. At least 15 of his classmates responded and made comments supporting him and allegedly egging him on.
It was only when a faculty member discovered the comments a week later that action was taken against the 16 students. The school director, H S Mamik, is quoted as saying, "We cannot tolerate indiscipline, particularly disrespect towards any teacher," adding that "The comments posted are not just negative but obscene, rude and abusive."
The suspended students said the management's action infringed their privacy and right to free expression.
"The school has no business to peep into our personal and online lives," one student told a reporter. A meeting of the school’s authorities scheduled for October 18 was postponed to the next day and there is hope that the period of suspension will be reduced. According to reports, the students and parents will also undergo regular counselling sessions.
Free speech and privacy figured in the suspension of students from the Vadodara school too. In this instance, the election of a Head Girl was the bone of contention, when two groups of students ‘clashed’ on the school’s ‘fan’ page.
"Three girls, one from Class X and two from Class XII, started a thread in which they accused the school authorities, a teacher and three other students of rigging the election," said a parent who declined to be identified. "The issue escalated after students backing the elected candidate replied using strong language."
The school management then reported the matter to the District Education Officer S P Chaudhary, who instituted an inquiry. However, after an apology from the students, the suspension was revoked and the matter ended there.
But only for the moment, as it appears.
That youth are the majority of the 16.7 million Facebook users in India is a no-brainer...but what of their exploration of online social relationships, their networking with ‘friends’ who they may not personally know and the challenges to their privacy? Also, if they do express their adverse personal opinions (as they do on so many issues) against class teachers or their educational institutions, can the institution take umbrage?
More to the point, if the institution does so, as it happened in these cases, does it violate an infringement of the students’ right to freedom of speech and expression?
An online poll conducted by DNA (Daily News and Analysis) newspaper on whether the Vadodara school students deserved to be suspended was divided roughly equally between Yes, the comments were on the selection of the head girl (33 %), No, it’s too harsh ??" why should the school care?(31%) and It’s for the school to decide what’s best (36%).
The last is revealing, as it gives an edge to the notion that the authority wielded by educational institutions over students is sacrosanct. Most schools keep close tabs on the facebook pages of their students and teachers who are befriended stay in touch with their students and their issues. As students become smarter, they utilise privacy controls to keep their comments out of the purview of teachers.
But what should the response of educational institutions be to legitimate grievances, opinions or views expressed by their students, especially those adverse to them?
Kavita Anand, executive director of Shishuvan, an ICSE school in Mumbai which has acquired a reputation for doing things differently, is aghast that schools must suspend students who hold dissenting, even adverse, views about their institution. "In our school, almost all the students are on Facebook and they write all sorts of things. They have polls on their favourite teacher and the teachers they don’t like. But we ignore these posts. We are in the process of making the school website interactive and had a lot of discussions on how to deal with dissent. We have blogs run by students and by teachers," she says.
The school’s tryst with free speech actually happens offline, in a special students council, where both students and teachers are encouraged to speak up about their issues with one another. "So we have students complaining about teachers they don’t like, or give them too much homework and teachers complaining about a class that gives them too much trouble...Counsellors are tracking the posts on Facebook, but there is no intrusion, they are just watching the discussions," she said, adding that there has to be more tolerance of opposing points of view.
In February this year, in an interesting case in USA, the constitutional right of a high school student suspended by her principal after she set up a Facebook page to criticize her teacher was upheld by a magistrate, Barry Garber. The latter denied the principal’s motion to dismiss the case and allowed a lawsuit by the student to move forward. The student was protected constitutionally under the First Amendment, the magistrate ruled.
The case is seen as a significant step forward for free speech on the internet. According to reports, Katherine Evans, now 19 and attending college, was suspended in 2007 from Pembroke Pines Charter High School after she used her home computer to create a Facebook page titled, "Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I've ever met."
"Evans' speech falls under the wide umbrella of protected speech," he wrote. "It was an opinion of a student about a teacher, that was published off-campus ... was not lewd, vulgar, threatening, or advocating illegal or dangerous behavior."
Even if they are let off the hook because their education will be jeopardised, it is clear that the argument for free speech is not on the radar of the schools which suspended their students. But with the spread of the internet in India, perhaps it is only a matter of time.
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