Only 25 sit-ups, says school

BANGALORE: It was only 25 sit-ups, said Chennamma Memorial School, a day after the parents of Abdul Gaffar Khan filed an FIR, accusing the school of making their son do 200 sit-ups. All because he was late to school.
P N Raghavendra Rao, school secretary, said the school would never ask a child to do so many sit-ups, but Abdul was a habitual latecomer."Abdul is studying here for the past seven years, so is his sister. His mother is a computer teacher here. Abdul is academically weak and a notorious child. We have been noticing some problems in his behaviour. Once he locked the classroom, preventing the teacher from entering the class and didn't allow other students to open the door. We didn't punish him, but informed his parents.''
On August 14, the school had celebrated Independence Day, and Abdul was late. "Latecomers are made to stand outside the gate till the assembly is completed. Students who come late once or twice are warned. We made Abdul do 25 sit-ups along with other students. He also took the test the same day. In fact, he collected his sweet and was absolutely normal,'' Rao said.
On August 18, at 3 pm, Abdul's relatives and parents barged into the school and his father allegedly started abusing the staff. "We are genuinely concerned about the boy. I even told the parents to get him examined properly. I have never beaten him," he said.
Rao said Abdul's father requested the teachers to convince him to attend school, and later said he wanted compensation. "To calm him down, we apologized. His father told me he wanted to take Abdul out of school and needed some money. He also said he had insurance but needed an FIR to claim it. I don't understand," said Rao. "The school manager went to settle the bill but they didn't have one. I asked them to meet me regarding the finances.''
"After the FIR was filed, police harassed me. At 9.30 pm, they came to my house and tried to pull me out. We are not criminals. I went to the police station and gave my version, and the police let me off. After this incident, half my staff has not turned up for work," he said, adding that the principal and staff will meet the parents on Thursday.
MOTHER'S VERSION
Abdul's mother Dilshad, who teaches in the school, disagreed on the number of sit-ups. "Why will I complain for 25 sit-ups? Once, my daughter was made to do 50 sit-ups and she is OK. He was made to do 200 sit-ups. He came late to school as Ramzan had just begun. He leaves home before me. I am not denying that he is never late, he may have come in late once or twice. Because of the beating, he felt an electric shock in his body,'' Dilshad said.
Though she admitted her child was poor in academics, she said he was not notorious. "That's absolutely untrue. He was beaten thrice,'' she said.
The secretary had told her he would come and meet the child, but did not turn up. "Though we are middle-class people, we never asked for any compensation. No financial assistance was asked for or offered,'' she added.
BAN ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
* Ministry of women and child development has issued a set of guidelines that bans physical punishment of students. First violation invites up to one year in jail, a fine of Rs 50,000 or both
* For subsequent violations, imprisonment could be 3 years and a fine of Rs 25,000. Heads of schools will be responsible for preventing corporal punishment. Teachers found guilty could be denied promotion and even increments
* Govt working on final draft of Prevention of Child Offences Bill where even parents, relatives and neighbours can be punished for hitting children. Bill to include physical, sexual and verbal abuse, molestation and ragging
EXPERTSPEAK
Corporal punishment will not internalise values in a child, instead it only controls external behaviour, which is temporary. A child can be taught about the pros and cons of any behaviour, which requires a little patience but has a lasting effect. Corporal punishment will create only hatred and aggression, and instil negativity in a child.
M S Thimmappa | professor of psychology