School ‘beats up’ child, earns the wrath of rights panel

The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) has set up a two-member committee to investigate the case of a 10-year-old student who was allegedly beaten up by teachers of Jain Heritage School, Kempapura.

The commission has taken a suo motu cognisance case and the two members will visit the school early next week to investigate the matter, MR Mamatha, KSCPCR member, said on Tuesday.

“The practice of corporal punishment in schools is a heinous crime. Moreover, if a reputed school owned the Jain Group of Institutions practises such an offence, the matter needs to be investigated properly. So, we have taken a suo motu cognisance case against the school to go deep into the matter,” Mamatha added.

The commission is planning to summon R Chenraj Jain, chairman of Jain Group of Institutions soon.

“If allegations against the school and teachers prove right, strict action will be initiated against the institute, including removal of the teachers who beat the boy up,” said Nina Nayak, chairperson of KSCPCR.

The commission has already spoken to the student’s father, Madhu K, an IT professional working with a multi-national company in Bangalore, before probing the matter.

“I will cooperate with the commission’s investigation. I have nothing against Jain Heritage School. I just want that no child should endure any sort of physical and mental harassment at the hands of teachers in schools,” he said.

Madhu’s son joined the school as a student of Class V in July last year. However, after the child had to endure beating at the hands of two teachers, Madhu decided to take his son out of the school in August.

“We approached the school authorities to deal with the matter after my child was terrified by repeated beatings by teachers. However, the school was not ready to accept that teachers in the school were practising corporal punishment. So, I decided to take the child out of the school,” said Madhu.

The boy is now studying in another school. Jain school denied his allegations as “baseless”.

“We are a 20-year-old educational institute. We follow a very child-centric approach in all our schools. Corporal punishment is never practised in our school. All our teachers are specially trained to deal with children,” said Archana Vishwanath, principal of the school, Jain Heritage School.

“These are all false allegations,” added Vishwanath.

In the Right to Education (RTE) Act, that has come into effect from April 1, 2010, Section 17 states that “no child shall be subjected to physical punishment and mental harassment” in schools.

In 2000, the Supreme Court banned corporal punishment in schools.

Taking cognisance of the case relating to the suicide of Rouvanjit Rawla, the Class VIII student of La Martiniere for Boys in Kolkata, the human resources development (HRD) ministry has begun formulating stringent guidelines against corporal punishment in schools.

Comprehensive guidelines will examine ways to take penal action against such schools, award compensation to affected students, besides giving more teeth to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).