For them, beating is a way of life

Sonia Sarkar / TNN / Nov 19, 2007, 03:28 IST

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Believe it or not, despite a court ban on corporal punishment, whipping, caning and beating of children in classrooms is a way of life in government schools.

NEW DELHI: Believe it or not, despite a court ban on corporal punishment, whipping, caning and beating of children in classrooms is a way of life in government schools.
A study conducted by an NGO on 1,500 students has found that not only do many teachers take pride in striking terror in the hearts of their students - reinforcing the belief that inflicting pain can make kids perform better -what’s more alarming is that children have come to accept this as a part and parcel of their school years.
‘‘My teacher slapped me even though I had completed my homework as there was some misunderstanding...It would have been fine with me if he had punished me for failing to complete my work,’’ says Trisha Singh, who studies in a government school at Madanpur Khadar in south Delhi.
Her classmate Manisha says: ‘‘My teacher scolds me every other day and threatens to not let me sit for the exams. I am attentive in class and do my homework everyday, yet he threatens to humiliate me in front of the whole school at the morning assembly.’’

‘‘Sir is a good teacher. So what, if he beats?’’ says another kid.
They are just three of the 1,500 kids whose views have been compiled by Plan India in the book, ‘‘Spare the Rod’’, which was released on the eve of Children’s Day. The book has also been partially designed by these kids.
The NGO’s study on corporal punishment finds that this form of violence and punishment is seen as having a huge ‘‘corrective value’’. The views of teachers who justify punishing students also find a place in the book. Says one of them, ‘‘Punishment ought to be made compulsory for children.’’

Corporal punishment was seen as being ‘‘extremely common’’ in all the 41 government schools covered in the five states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
‘‘When I did not complete my English holiday homework, madam first asked me to crouch like a hen and then asked me to clean the whole school. Later, she hit me twice with a rod,’’ recounts a child.
Not that home is any better for kids. ‘‘Violence in both schools and homes is common against children’’, notes the study. ‘‘Children are starved, inflicted burns on their hands, tied to a chair and beaten, chilly powder is poured down his/ her throat if he/she cries...they are suspended from the ceiling for long hours...’’ In fact, most cases of corporal punishment in India go unreported as parents think their child’s mistake must’ve been the ‘‘provocation’’, or because they fear for their children.
Most teachers also think that they are justified in doling out such punishments. ‘‘There are just too many children for me to handle in a class and so punishments become a necessary tool,’’ says one of the 225 teachers interviewed during the study. ‘‘I am asked to do so many non-teaching tasks that I am unable to pay enough attention to students’ problems,’’ says another.
‘‘I am middle-aged and I do not know how else to control my class,’’ is the justification given by yet another teacher. There’s no dearth of such excuses. This despite the fact that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had in August issued directives to the chief secretaries of all states, asking them to strictly deal with cases of corporal punishment in schools.
An FIR can be lodged against a teacher even if he/she calls a child ‘‘mindless’’ or ‘‘stupid’’, states the directive. But, as the book shows, there’s hardly any enforcement of these rules at the classroom-level. The book talks about these rules though - the UN Convention on Rights of the Child and Section 23 of Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, which states that anyone who assaults, abandons or neglects a child can be imprisoned for six months or fined heavily.
(Names of students have been changed)
sonia.sarkar@timesgroup.com

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