For Whom the Bell Trolls

Amidst the many amusing developments triggered by the Covid-caused shut down was the one in the teaching domain. The mandatory shift to online Education caught many, if not all, of those involved in the art of teaching by surprise. Even the so called who shout for the Online-Raj, in fact, were not really sure how this could be achieved overnight. In the middle of all the hue and cry, finally the schools opened in the State with the education channel airing the lessons for the Young learners, certainly with mixed reception. the yeah-sayers hailing it and the nay-sayers decrying the move, not on grounds of quality but of reach and access. 

 What was amusing was the story of a troll in the middle of it. One of the lessons aired for the kindergarten kids was trolled in the social media and the hell broke loose. This act of 'ragging' was followed up and the culprits were booked. There was a stringent warning issued to all that such irresponsible acts of trolling online lessons will be seriously dealt with. Later there was a lot of appreciation, rightly, for the teacher who handled the lesson and they say that now the whole state can claim to have thousands of young teachers who model themselves on the said teacher- in tone and rhythm, rhyme and scheme. Though it is too early to say how the story will end while it comes to the prank of the youngsters, this triggered certain line of reflection in me.

It needs no restating that the teacher in question did a very good job. Except for those who were looking to cash in, in the form of controversy, on the first State level online-only teaching experience, there was nothing worth questioning here. But my question is was it necessary to book those who trolled the session? On the one hand, even with the trolls still out, the online lessons would continue and we will get used to it. As it happens all around, trolls on the one side and life and practices on the other side would go on. To a good extent the troll-targets will be aware about the possible trolling while they design themselves. The teachers will be mature enough to know what to take and what to leave. Trolls are a new category and the world around is gradually coming to grips with it. Trolls are not cartoons of the digital kind on the one side while neither are these simply, silly young tech-travagance. There definitely is a serious element of criticism involved, though one comes across plenty of trolls which fail to impress in anyway and do not make the cut.

When the community /authority (did it look a bit protean?!) polices trolls (not just trolls in the bad taste or trolls which celebrate vulgarity and  not those which run counter to legal obligations), of all kinds, we seem to have a problem. Why is it necessary to ban trolling teachers while they do it online? Will this apply later, be extended to trolling all kinds of classes? Will there be a ban on teacher trolls? If this act is to set some kind of a standard, will this later stretch to all kinds novel practices? I mean whenever a new mode, a new model or practice is going to be set, will we protect it for a while saying that trolls destroy confidence and sully the practitioner? When a new minister struggles to speak in her/his first press conference, can people troll? Will a troll on it attract the law? If a new head of a Nation errs in diplomatic courtesy, will trollers get a chance? Or will that be a reason for being booked?

In the case of online education, it can’t be treated as new. It has been around for a while. Education channels too have been around for longer than that. So the guard-the-new-practice theory doesn’t seem to hold here. Did the troll upset the said teacher? or was the whole teacher fraternity demoralized, really? Or did it in fact hit much higher than that? Was the act takes an affront to the powers that be? Did they  overreact in the urge to push the online-lesson policy?  Did the Covid-pressure temporarily disengage our better sense? The point is not to back all the trollers all the while. What I am trying to drive home is that we will have to learn to live with the trolls. Or we will have to also stop trolling others or placing a ban on all trolls too. Of course it would be excellent if we can put in place a mechanism which helps us differentiate between the acceptable and unacceptable trolls, without drawing very firm lines as to what we are tolerant to and not. This but is not an easy job and that realization is easy if one is on the other side of the divide. 

Teachers all across, belonging to higher and lower rungs of education, perhaps will be glad about this turn of events. But then when the boot is on the other foot too, they will have to oblige! They sure need to be trained to perform well (which the teacher in reference certainly did), but also to be made strong enough emotionally (and intellectually too, in terms of skills and scholarship, if that is where the problems lie!) to take the criticism which comes rightly or occasionally wrongly in the stride, in whatever form it comes- be it student trolls or even govt policies!