THIS debate takes me back to my pre-primary days when teacher Jane (we called her auntie Jane) used to parade us and check our finger nails. She would check our teeth, and even under garments. 

I remember every time I wore new knickers, I would walk to her desk and lift my dress to show her before she paraded us for check up. She would smile and ask me if I had thanked my mum and dad for buying me the new knickers. 

To cut the story short, I realised that Auntie Jane always made sure that we were clean and tidy. There were actually days when she would send some students back home with their parents. 

I don’t see why every teacher can’t do a regular check up in regards to the cleanliness of their students. If the child has come to school untidy like three consecutive times, the teacher can make a report and then call the parents of the child to school and discussion the situation. 

To be honest, given the kind of parenting culture we have today, parents get up as early as 5:00am to go to work and leave the maids or house help with the responsibility of preparing the children for school. At least that’s what happens in most homes. I can’t blame them because they have to work to make ends meet. 

I also do not want to blame the maids because some of them are not parents.  Sometimes the maid takes very little care of how the child looks probably because the school bus has come to pick them up before they have completely organised them. So they just send them off. 

So when the child reaches school in that unkempt nature, I think as a teacher whose role also involves nurturing, I stand to be corrected,  if you don’t take the initiative to contact the parents about the child’s unkempt nature, who will? 

If the teachers can’t play the parents role at school by at least making sure the student enters class when they are tidy, let them think of the school’s image. 

When I meet dirty students in the morning, the first thing that comes to my mind is which school do they go to? As a school, I’m hoping they have a policy of moulding these children into responsible citizens, not only academically but in other aspects. 

A clean child will easily grasp what they are taught in class, than one who didn’t shower and is busy scratching themselves because their skin itches.