Corporal Punishment Takes Heavy Toll on Indian
School-Children
Fri Feb 22, 7:13 AM ET
Geeta Sharma,OneWorld South Asia

Recent incidents of "barbaric and inhumane" corporal
punishment used in Indian schools have been strongly
condemned this week by local groups campaigning for
the rights of children and child education.

At least two separate incidents this month involving
young children--who were left with traumatic injuries
after aggressive assaults delivered by teachers at
schools in New Delhi--have prompted calls for an end
to the practice (news - Y! TV) of such disciplinary
action in Indian schools.

Condemning the incidents as "barbaric and inhuman,"
T.K. Mathew, head of Deepalaya, a Delhi-based
organization working with underprivileged children,
said such abuse was simply unacceptable and "should be
condemned in the severest terms."

"Such acts point to the inability of teachers to
handle [classroom] situations and instead [they] find
easy targets in the form of children," said M.S.
Vidya, of VidyaOnline, an web-based resource center
for elementary school teachers.

"A teacher's role is to work towards the betterment of
children," said Vidya. "The teacher should impart
values of respect and humaneness. If a child is beyond
repair, counseling is the answer. Violence can never
be a remedy."

In the most recent incident last week, the eardrum of
a four-year-old boy was severely damaged after his
teacher thrashed him repeatedly around the head for
failing to neatly apply color to a drawing.

Earlier this month, a teacher repeatedly hit the head
of an eight-year-old girl against a table, and pulled
out tufts of her hair from the roots for falling short
of expectations during reading practice. The
traumatized girl, who has a bald patch on her head,
refuses to return to school and complaints to school
authorities and the police have so far not resulted in
any disciplinary action against the teacher.

Despite a High Court ruling last year that corporal
punishment of school children was a violation of basic
rights, teachers continue to use this form of
punishment to excess.

The ruling reflected principles laid out in the
International Convention on Children and adopted by
the Indian government in the 1992 National Education
Policy, which stated that "corporal punishment has no
place in the system of education." Individual states
in the subcontinent, however, are left to adopt their
own measures.

"In India, especially in rural India, corporal
punishment is an accepted and widely-practiced method
of disciplining children," noted Vidya. "What we need
therefore is to sensitize parents and teachers towards
more humane ways of managing children."

Vidya suggested that the two-year courses for
teacher-trainees should not only focus on curricula
and classroom techniques, but should also emphasize
the importance of understanding child psychology.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics,
corporal punishment can adversely affect a student's
self-esteem and school achievement, and can contribute
to disruptive classroom behavior.

United States-based Human Rights Watch has maintained
that the failure of school officials to protect pupils
from such violence denies them their right to freedom
from physical or mental violence and the full
enjoyment of their right to an education.



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