The right approach to punctuality

The manner in which a school imposes punctuality among students defines how students receive it.

According to a post on X, a Class I student at a school in Bengaluru was allegedly made to stand in the sun for two hours for being two minutes late. Apparently, his parents' post demanding an explanation from the principal has gone viral, with many parents upset about how the child was treated at school. Further, a case has been filed against the school.

On the one hand, parents' outrage is understandable. First and foremost, a Grade 1 child cannot be held accountable for being late. At that age, a child's timeliness depends heavily on his parents’ punctuality. So, in this case, it doesn’t make sense to punish a child for his parents’ tardiness. Further, making a child stand in the scorching sun is both unjust and inhumane and is unlikely to teach a child a positive lesson on the importance of punctuality. On the contrary, such punishments are likely to make children dislike and distrust the institution of schooling. 

Why punctuality matters

That said, how does a school inculcate punctuality in students? Even as children spout the proverb that “Timeliness is next to godliness,” to what extent do we practice this? As a culture, we tend to be fairly lax regarding time. A common joke is that “Indian Standard Time” implies being late by at least 30 minutes to an hour. It’s not uncommon for guests to arrive at a wedding only to find that the bride and groom are still on their way. While ‘traffic’ is the standard excuse for being late, it simply cannot be used time and again. Punctuality is one of the basic markers of professionalism. 

Given our laissez-faire attitude towards time, it’s a wonder that most of our schools are punctual, often to the dot. And punctuality is a virtue that should not be trifled with because, at its core, it is about respecting other people. I teach an online class for adult learners, and I always start on time, even if not everyone has logged in yet. If I wait for the latecomers, I will inconvenience those who show up on time. 

Further, if children enter a classroom at different times, the flow of a lesson is interrupted for the entire group, compromising every child's learning. So, it is in the best interests of all children that schools practice punctuality. But how can they do this without being punitive and taking relevant contextual factors into account? 

As I mentioned earlier, before the age of 10, it does not make sense to hold a child responsible for being late. Even after Grade 5, students should not be subjected to any physical or psychological humiliation. For older children, making up missed work or completing a reasonable additional assignment may be a solution. For younger children who repeatedly arrive late, parents may be called in for a meeting to discuss the issue in a climate of mutual respect. This can only be achieved when the school believes that every parent is doing their best to get their child to school on time, and the parent assumes that the school prioritises children’s well-being. An erosion of trust between educators and parents, unfortunately, harms children most of all, from both pedagogical and psychological perspectives. 

Trust between parents and educators

The commercialisation and commodification of education have eroded a sense of community among both children and parents. If the environment had fostered trust between parents and the school, a calm and civil discussion could have prevented the issue from ballooning out of proportion. Regardless of what we say, children both watch and imitate how we act and interact with one another. For children to imbibe values such as respect, honesty, integrity, and compassion, it is important that the adults around them model these virtues. 

Schools alone are not to blame. Parents, too, are both victims and perpetrators of a toxic culture that prizes performance over the whole person. Mired in modernity’s rat race, parents often focus on external metrics of success, such as marks and ranks, and treat educators as mere “service-providers” who are paid to perform a job. As a result, the synergistic bond between parent and teacher, which is essential for a child’s healthy and holistic development, is often weak or absent.

While the National Education Policy (NEP) has charted lofty goals and hopes to reimagine and revitalise education in India, this vision cannot be realised unless the adult stakeholders, parents and educators, also re-evaluate the purpose of education. If we want to nurture the next generation of responsive and responsible citizens, it is about time we recalibrated our priorities for our children and modelled the values we hope will take root in them. Nothing less than their futures is at stake. 

(The author is a psychologist, writer and visiting faculty, Azim Premji University)