Thursday, May 09, 2013

A jailed teacher and the misunderstood English sentence

I was very sad when I read the story of the Nepali teacher of Qatar Academy who was jailed over allegations that he had insulted Islam .  This man is described as a highly intelligent and tolerant person who would never be stupid to insult any religion .He had warned some of his pupils bullying him  not  to stereotype anyone  as it can be hurtful   -  as hurtful and stupid as it would be from him  to say  that every Arab is a terrorist .

The pupil must have had a problem to understand the  Conditional sentence in English and took it as an affirmative  one. This misunderstanding was enough to jail a teacher .


It is  sad . Not only from the point of view of the  Dorje Gurung and his co-workers  but from the point of view  of the children . They are going to lose a lots of wonderful teachers who do not wish to work anymore here .Qatar spends a lots money on bringing here highly trained and experienced professionals but it seems that  they can not keep them for long  for similar reasons . As one of my child went to an international school I know that teacher bullying is not something unusual here .So I respect very much those who are ready to work here as teachers . Telling the truth  -coming from a family with generations of teacher - having more than ten years teaching experience - I am very much scared from the idea of having to teach here .

I am always saddened when I remember the case of the Taek Wan Doe  master whose classes my teenage daughter had attended . She was a highly trained  and lovely  trainer for girls only classes . Most of the girls were Qatari and nice cheerful ones . Everything went well until one girl got minor injury while practicing the fighting  - then she was shouting with this coach terribly  - when it was not her fault at all .It was very humiliating . Then soon after the trainer "had to go home to Korea urgently" and never returned to Qatar . According to my knowledge  there has not been  "Girls only taek wan doe classes "  in Qatar ever since . A lots of girls must have given it up  .

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