Discipline is a very important part of life. Discipline implies an orderly manner of living and conducting oneself. It is essential in every sphere of life, whether it is at home or at work. Only a disciplined person can make a success out of whatever he engages in. It is a quality which should be inculcated in children right from the beginning. The two most important influences in this regard are the home and the school.

If we look at the students of today, we find a picture of indsicipline. Unlike the students of old times, they lack a respect for their elders and their teachers. Their indsicipline is further manifested in dishonesty in examinations, where mass copying has become the order of the day. Invigilators are intimidated at the point of a knife and sometimes even assaulted if they try to perform their duty. This indsicipline is further shown in students going on strike at the slightest provocation and this provocation might be the simplest of reasons such as increase in the bus fare or the demand for a better canteen and so on. They even go to the extent of taking their anger to the road and stoning and burning buses.

The important point to consider in this state of affairs are the reasons for this growing menace of indsicipline, so that a solution can be found to this problem. Now, the two most important influences on the student are his environment at home and at school.

On the home front the parents are to blame to some extent, for pampering the child and giving in to every demand. This causes the child to rebel whenever he is not able to get his way. Again, in most homes, both parents are away at work and have little time to spare for their children as a result of which the children feel neglected and turn their mind to mischief.

At the same time, the school also plays a very important role in forming the character of a child. We find that except for the missionary schools, most of the other schools do not have a moral science class where the students are taught the basic traits of a good and honest life. This, I feel, a serious shortcoming of our present day schools.

Again, with the increasing population, the nimber of students seeking admosion to schools is far beyond the number a school can safely admit. Therefore, there is severe over crowding and the number of students in each class is far beyond what a teacher can happily manage. The class size in a government high school is at least 60, which should not be the case. Thus, it often happens that there is little contact between the teacher and the students. Often the teachers do not even know the names of all the studens in the class, which I feel is really sad. The absence of rapport between the students and the teacher makes them quite indifferent to each other. As a result, the student has no incentive to follow the good example of the teacher.

Yet again, the teachers are concerned with teaching the text books alone. They do not relate the lesson taught to its practical application in life, which could be a simple and effective way of teaching the students good percepts without appearing to moralize.

Furthermore, teachers too do not have the kind of devotion to duty they should have. They are more concerned about their own family problems and making extra money through private tuitions or other small time business activities. They are often quite indifferent if the students bunk classes and regard it as a free period to be enjoyed. Instead of pointing out to the students the wrong they thus indulge in, the teachers by their behaviour make it appear as quite an acceptable practice. In such an environment, it is little to be wondered at if the students misbehave and become indsiciplined.

It is important that this situation be rectified as soon as possible. Parents should make the utmost effort to spend more time with their children to guide them and teachers too should take more interest in their work so that the students get the kind of education they deserve.

The students of today are going to be the adult citizens of tomorrow and be at the helm of the affairs of the nation. Therefore, it is very important to mould them right from the beginning so that they might grow up into responsible and disciplined adults and lead the nation to progress and prosperity.

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