Counsel children, cut out the cane

On Tuesday, Karnataka woke up to the shocking news of a Class 4 student in Gadag district being thrashed and pushed to his death from the first floor of a government-run school. The accused was none other than his teacher who was employed at the school on a contract basis and went absconding after the incident.

A few days ago, a Delhi-based teacher had thrown a Class five student off the school building. Are these isolated incidents or have they become part of the ‘corporal culture’ at most schools in the country where as high as 65 per cent of students face such punishment during their academic phase? Parents know that their kids have been at the receiving end when they turn up at home in the evening with bruised ears or swollen cheeks and teary eyes.

The reasons for such punishment are many – it could be not doing homework, poor performance in exams, not wearing the prescribed uniform or absence from school due to illness. It could also happen because of the poor student-teacher ratio and the huge syllabus with teachers who are unable to handle the stress, venting their rage on students. The punishment varies – it could be a slap, a punch, twisting the ears and whatever it may be, it inevitably leaves a scar on the student’s psyche and could even affect his health and performance in academics.

There have been instances of students being locked up in classrooms and left to fend for themselves, and of those who have been made to even strip as a ‘punishment.’ The adverse effects on the child’s behaviour become evident as he or she grows up – kids who are regularly punished for the right or wrong reason, tend to become more aggressive and could even develop destructive tendencies, say reports.

And how do parents, teachers and students come up with a mechanism to keep corporal punishment to the minimum and ensure it does not cross the limits like it happened in the Gadag and Delhi schools? Awareness campaigns at the school level on the need to comply with the rules, the self-inculcation of discipline for the overall good and a consultative process between the three stakeholders at regular intervals, are essential if students are to be kept safe from monstrous behaviour like that of the Gadag teacher.

All that it calls for is a stern look and a few words of good advice to keep students on their toes and make sure they mend their unacceptable behaviour. And if this does not suffice and the child continues with his or her antics leaving the teacher at a loss, one can always make a call to the parent to do their bit to make the young one fall in line.

In fact, we would definitely have better classrooms and a more positive learning environment if teachers realised that physical force and the inflicting of pain are the worst ways of settling inter-personal conflict with the student. Developing a close rapport with each student and gaining their trust would go a long way in making them toe the desired line in classrooms. The basics of behaviour management will have to be inculcated in students, so that they sit through the long hours in their classrooms without hurting the feelings of their classmates or teachers.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 specifically prohibits physical harassment and even makes it a punishable offence under various sections. But bringing the law into classrooms would be the last thing parents and teachers would want; the more acceptable way would be to put in place a consultative process wherein gentle but persuasive methods and not the cane, are used to correct deviant behaviour