Today in class, we were discussing a topic in our worksheets known as teacher bullying.

Yes, unbeknownst to most parents, teacher bullying does indeed take place. This usually comes in the form of picking on a particular student for no apparent reason. It can take the form of verbal taunting in class that borders on humiliation, and even excessive punishments for relatively minor offences.

It's a particularly sensitive topic for me, as I have experienced it first-hand. It happened twice, in fact.

The first time was after I had come back from an overseas trip to Bali and was wearing a silver charm bracelet I had gotten there. The silver was quite pure, so the metal was soft. It consisted of a chain with cute little charms dangling from it, like a little birdcage, a small bag etc. I liked it a lot.

I was in class one day and this teacher, who by the way wasn't even my form teacher, came over to me. I can't remember if it was because I had done something wrong or not. Anyway, while she was scolding me, her eyes fell on the silver bracelet I was wearing. She started lecturing me for wearing jewellery to school, which was fine. What she did next, however, wasn't. She actually reached out towards one of the charms and pulled on it roughly, and thus as a result the metal gave way and it broke off. She even had the cheek to say,"You see, so soft. Can break so easily!" I remember forlornly picking up the charm and bringing it home.

A few more of the charms fell off because of my own doing (it wasn't a very practical bracelet), and I eventually stopped wearing it. Even so, I don't think she had the right to spoil it and not apologise. I saw her a few years later after I left the school during a visit. She saw me but ignored me completely. Yes, I could definitely feel the love.

The second time was more subtle. It wasn't outright scolding or punishing, but more of ignoring my presence and needs as a student. This particular teacher favoured all the other students in class except for me. While she gave hints to the rest during lab work, she just left me to sink or swim even when I was doing something wrong. She often chatted with the rest of my classmates and cracked jokes with them, but would ignore me completely. She also hardly ever smiled at me. It's hard to explain, but I could feel that she didn't like me for some strange reason. Unless you've been through it, you don't know how it feels like. I used to dread going to school because of this.

It's especially hurtful as the teacher is seen as a figure of authority and a fair judge in the class. When I first experienced it, I felt as if there was something wrong with me. I wasn't obedient enough or smart enough and deserved to be picked on. It's only after I matured and looked back on these incidents that I realised, hey, it's not me. They're just mean.

As such, now that I'm a tuition teacher, I make it a point to be fair to all my students. It isn't easy, but I'll try.

No child deserves to go through the hell I went through.