The librarian is also accused of beating two other children the same day for entering the library without taking off their footwear. Apparently it is a rule in this school at Dhavalim, Ponda taluka, that the library can only be accessed barefoot and these two children had broken that rule. While the rule itself is questionable, does its breaking require the librarian to assault the children? The librarian has been held for offences committed under the Children’s Act, but how will the school react to this assault? Complaints have already been made to the school headmaster, who has duly sent these to the ‘higher authorities’. Their response is awaited.
In another case of a teacher beating a student, police registered a case against a teacher from a school in Porvorim for allegedly assaulting a four-year-old in the classroom. According to the police, the child’s mother complained that the teacher assaulted the child in such a manner that there are injuries to the child’s left ear. The police, however, claim that the injury on the child is neither fresh, nor has the child been able to identify the teacher against whom there is a complaint, raising some queries over the incident. The fact, however, remains that there have been incidents of corporal punishment reported almost simultaneously in schools from different talukas and this has to be taken seriously.
Corporal punishment has been made illegal. The Child Rights Charter 2003 of India states, “All children have a right to be protected against neglect, maltreatment, injury, trafficking, sexual and physical abuse of all kinds, corporal punishment, torture, exploitation, violence and degrading treatment.” This has to be followed without any deviation.
There were times in decades past when teachers yielded the ruler in the class, when almost every teacher entering a classroom had a wooden ruler in the hand. It had almost become a symbol of punishment, a silent warning to the students prone to misbehave in the class. It was the time when the belief was that a child could be corrected by being given the wrong end of the stick. Not any longer. Corporal punishement is seen as a form of torture and a child cannot be corrected through torture but by being made to understand what the fault is and how this has to be changed.
It is imperative that a teacher should understand how vulnerable a child is and realise how any form of physical punishment can impact a child’s feelings. Incidents such as these cannot have repetitions and a support system needs to be put in place to help students in difficulties. Aren’t schools supposed to have counsellors? Was the counsellor approached in this case? In the Dhavlim incident, the student was even scared to relate at home what had occurred in the school, and it was only when other parents inquired with the mother that the family learnt that their child had been beaten up and took this up with the school headmaster.
The cases have come to light because they are rather extreme and led to the student developing fractures. There may be other cases of corporal punishement that go unreported as the severity may be of a lesser nature. It is time to stand up against all forms of corporal punishment. Discipline in schools can be brought about by rewarding good behaviour and curbing negative behaviour in children. Teachers too must equip themselves with techniques of positive discipline and set aside corporal punishment for all time.
