To punish or not?

NAGPUR: Is punishment the only way to discipline a child who has made a mistake? And what if the punishment humiliates the child so much that he is forced to end his life? These questions are being raised after a court held Kolkota's La Martiniere school principal and three other teachers responsible for the suicide of 13-year-old Rouvanjit Rawla.
The boy committed killed himself on February 12 this year.His parents allege that Rouvanjit was driven to take the extreme step after being caned by the teachers.
TOI spoke to a few academicians in Nagpur for their take on the punishment and its after effects.
Popular child counselor from the city Milind Apte raises some interesting questions. "Has anyone considered why a 13-year-old child was forced to commit suicide?" he asks. "Phrasing the question in another way, has anyone considered how the child came to know that his life can be ended if subjected to humiliation of any sort? It seems to be really surprising that a child of such a tender age even has the knowledge of such a thing like suicide. Doesn't it mean that he came to know about this from some external sources? Literature, movies, his friends or even the media maybe? These sources are the real culprits."
"In the old days, the teachers used to cane children all the time. But did they commit suicide?" says principal of BRA Mundle English medium school, Roopali Hingwe. "If the teachers are competent in their subject, the question of subjecting a child to punishment will never arise. I am really against punishments of any sorts, especially those that result in public humiliation. The only reason that such incidents of suicide and court cases are happening is that somewhere there is a glitch in the student-teacher communication. There is a thin line for the teachers between being friendly and being over friendly. The students are bound to take advantage in the latter case. The bottom line is that teachers should be competent."
Apte says that even the parents should be blamed. "The child must have given out some hint before he took such a big step. The parents should have picked up those hints and prevented this ghastly incident. I don't say that I support what the teachers did with the child. Even the teachers could have been tactful if they were facing a particularly rowdy kid," he said.
On the other hand, Shailesh Joglekar, principal of Bhosla military school feels that there should be some kind of punishment. "Punishment is necessary to keep the students disciplined," he says. "I handle an all boys school and it would be really difficult for me to handle them if I don't have a punishment system in place. About publicly punishing the child, I think that the age of the child should be taken into consideration. Adolescents get humiliated easily so they should not be punished publicly. There is a complex relation between discipline and punishment. But the children need to be kept in check."
Student of Dharampeth science Aishwarya Saoji says that back in school, she found that many times teachers punished the students for the wrong reasons. "The teachers didn't even try to understand what the problem was and simply punished us. Sometime it was really unfair. But when we made mistakes, we wholeheartedly accepted the punishments and tried to improve ourselves. There were only a few teachers who actually talked to the students frankly and understood what their problem was. It lead to a lot of misunderstandings."
Senior teacher and director of Modern school SM Joshi says that the parents should be taken into confidence if a punishment is to be inflicted. "I think that executing a punishment in a proper way is the main issue. Punishment should not be in the form of vindictiveness, children should be punished with a right motive in mind. If a bad habit needs to be corrected and there is not other option but to punish the child, then the parents should be informed about it first. 99% of the times, the parents step in and correct the child. The teachers should be aware as well. Inflicting punishments on emotionally unbalanced children is not advisable."
So who are to be blamed when the child commits suicide? The parents, the teachers or the child himself? Principal of South Point school Devendra Dasture says neither should be blamed. "I think the system is at fault," he says. "There are so many schools popping up and so few teachers. The new schools appoint incompetent teachers and give them a class of 60 students. How is the teacher supposed to cope with that? Ultimately, these teachers lack patience. When it comes to handling difficult children, patiently talking to them is not an option for them. So they opt for the easier way out and punish them instead. It is necessary to understand that nothing is impossible, even a person who is having bad intentions can be converted into a saint if he is dealt with in the proper manner."