Saturday, March 10, 2012

Spare the Rhode-No to Corporal Punishments

SreeNair | 4:48 AM |

               The nation witnessed a wild  furore  over the suicide of Class VIII student Rouvanjit Rawla on February 12, 2010.Police arrested  Sunirmal Chakravarth the principalof Kolkata's famous school La Martiniere for Boys, teachers David Ryan and Partha Datta and produced them before the chief metropolitan magistrate's court on October 4.

The boy was caned four days back at school.

Before the ink writing the NCPCR guidlines dried up, a case of thrashing of a  fourth class student for speaking to her friends in Telugu at the English medium public school in Vishakh patnam was on the news.The girl was admitted at Kisuch George Hospital.

In the Kairon episode at the Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, the male school Principal was charged for Corporal Punishment and using abusive language towards girl students. The Punjab education department has decided that only woman Principals take charge of such schools where girl students study in classes up to 10+1 and 10+2.

In Taran Taran school the principal was suspended for awarding corporal punishment to girl students as the police found enough evidence to prove the principal guilty.

In an extreme case of corporal punishment, two teachers of a boarding school in Ranip - NK Ashram Shala - have been accused of branding and beating up a five-year-old student, Vishal, for bed-wetting and vomiting ."The brutal assault left welts on his buttocks" said Bapunagar police officials who are probing the case.

These are but some from the slew of nasty incidences of Corporal Punishments meted out to the young students of our famous temples of education.How many incidences must have gone unnoticed from the public domain?

The Education Commission (1964-66) professed, “the destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms”. The National Policy on Education 1986 reiterates:“The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of the society; it is said that no people can rise above the level of its teachers ”.

But how pathetic are the rules in our class rooms!

According to the survey conducted in 2009-10 academic year, only 9 out of 6,632 students in seven states, ie 98.86% of children reported experiencing one or the other kind of punishment. "As many as 81.2 per cent of children were subject to outward rejection by being told that they are not capable of learning" it said.

NCPCR( National Commission for Protection of Child Rights ) defines Corporal Punishment as physical punishment, mental harassment and discrimination of children causing both physical and mental harassment.

The various forms of Corporal Punishment includes beating, thrashing, spanking, slapping ,punching, kicking , cocking, biting, slighting or even whipping'.Even the "cruel practice" of giving electric shock finds a mention in the study on the practice of corporal punishment brought out by the(NCPCR).Getting beaten by a cane, being slapped on the cheeks, being hit on the back and ears and getting boxed are the other four major punishments, it said.

Such medieval methods may inflict a perennial physically impairment on children. Psychologists say that the emotional scars accompanied will be even deeper.Verbal abuse could be as damaging and humiliating for children, especially the younger ones, as physical punishment. When teaching becomes coercive, students will neither have the proper education nor any discipline.The end result is fear, hatred and anger.

Corporal Punishment often leads to antisocial behavior. The brutal disciplinary processes hinder the psychological growth of a person. Inflicting physical punishment on a child does not fit to his or her right to life guaranteed by article 21 of Indian Constitution. This was held by Delhi High Court in a public Interest Litigation which was filed by the Parents Forum for Meaningful Education (AIR 2001 Delhi 212).

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has suggested a code of regulations on the conduct of teachers in schools. It suggests a total ban on corporal punishment.Till date only six Indian states have banned the cane in schools.NCPCR has given various guidelines regarding corporal Punishment in schools. Children are precious resources of the nation, and therefore they are entitled to get education in an environment of freedom and dignity.

The guidelines include measures for affirmative action in schools towards positive development and positive engagement with children.It also discusses creating an environment conducive to learning and for mechanisms and processes to give children a voice and engage in the process of creating a positive environment as well as for accountability and multi-sectoral responsibility.

Several State governments have also passed orders to stop the Corporal Punishment. But substantial changes are not discernible in the class rooms.The class rooms remain tobe the abode of rot-learning.Here the captor and the captive shrink into one.The teachers have to change.The mirror is not to be changed, but our visages need to be repolished.

India's Right to Education bill, which guarantees universal education and bans corporal punishment from schools, has been waiting to become a full-fledged law for more than a decade. The Supreme Court ordered a ban on corporal punishment in 2000. But it has been implemented in only 17 out the 28 states. According to the 2007 report, Delhi was one of four states in India where corporal punishment is most common.

Teaching is the noblest profession where one imparts knowledge to others. The teacher must consider his students as his own children, and treat them as lovingly and caringly as possible. He should transform himself in to a mender and motivator. A teacher should be there to guide a student to become responsible, educated and a well groomed citizen of a country. Children are like delicate flowers ,to be nurtured with great care to blossom and spread their fragrance.

Spare the rod and save the childhood is the new slogan.


The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer- German Protestant theologian anti-Nazi activist (1906 - 1945)


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  • http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704083904576337373758647478.html
  • http://www.corpun.com/

 

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