The Kerala child rights commission has mandated that all instructors, regardless of gender, should be addressed as ‘teacher’ rather than ‘sir’ or ‘madam.’ According to a recent ruling from the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR), using the pronoun ‘teacher’ instead of honorifics like ‘sir’ or ‘madam’ to call them is more gender-neutral.
On Wednesday, a Bench made up of panel chair KV Manoj Kumar and member C Vijayakumar ordered the General Education Department to issue directions directing the usage of the term ‘teacher’ in all state-run schools. The instruction was granted after taking into account a petition made by a citizen who wanted to stop teachers being addressed as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ based on their gender. Additionally, the complainant demanded that the teachers be addressed in a non-gender-specific manner.
At its ruling, the panel ruled that action should be done to issue a directive in all educational institutions to use the term ‘teacher’ to refer to them in a respectful and gender-neutral manner. It noted that the terms ‘sir’ or ‘madam’ do not correspond to the idea of a teacher.
The panel went on to say that using the word ‘teacher’ will also bring teachers and students closer together and gave the director of the general education department instructions to present the ‘action taken’ report in this respect within two months.
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