Is harsh punishment the only way out?

Look for holistic approach to reduce pressure
In the past few years, we have heard a lot of incidents where students have been the victims of corporal punishment. This lead to a lot of tension among parents and teachers. We must understand that the issue is about pressure building on children. The most common punishment used by teachers to punish ‘bad’ students is either making them stand on the bench or by sending them out of the class. This can sometimes lead to humiliation and ridicule of the students among classmates.  Our education system is to be blamed as it aims at competition among students rather than a focus on learning. Parents as well as schools pressurise them to score well rather than engage in holistic learning. So, instead of just debating about corporal punishment in some schools, we must also look at the holistic approach to reduce the pressure on child and teacher. Such pressure on children can lead them to take harsh steps like suicide. Society needs to create an ambience for learning rather than competition among children.
Anurag Modi, social activist

It impacts a child’s right to survival and development
The appaling forms of violence inflicted on children are simply untenable and fundamentally antithetical to basic human rights and established child rights standards. Therefore, we equate corporal punishment with class room violence that severely impacts children’s rights to survival, protection, development and participation.The repeated examples of corporal punishment are proof enough that it is continuing unabated despite the ban on it. Corporal punishment calls for more stringent legal action. Apart from ensuring stringent legal action which will act as a deterrent, the school management committees mandated by the RTE Act, 2009, should play a role in ensuring that such incidents do not occur. The role of students and parents should be inclusive and visible in the school management committees. Corporal punishment has multiple dimensions — it could be verbal, include physical abuse or could lead to discriminatory practices.
Kreeanne Rabadi, regional director, CRY

A child requires rewards not punishment to improve
In our forefather’s time it was commonly said ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’. However, it is realised that today’s subtle methods bring better result than old-age ones where children were beaten or slapped in school if they misbehaved. Corporal punishment has no role in the field of education and learning, since other stressors like intense competition weighs heavily on the child’s and parent’s psyche. Each child is an individual and dealing with each individual is different from all aspects. A child requires rewards and punishment to discipline, to motivate, and ultimately to mould into a responsible citizen. Therefore, corporal punishment should be condemned and not encouraged. However, it is sad but true that it is still prevalent in India even after it was banned in 2001. This could be because it is easy to practice, with no intelligent effort being required from a teacher, whereas other methods require immense patience and self-discipline.
Amit Upasham, psychiatrist, Godrej Memorial Hospital

Use methods like positive reinforcement to discipline
While growing up, children try to develop their identity and a sense of self. Corporal punishment makes a child feel inadequate; firstly, it makes a child feel bad and secondly, it makes a child feel that he/she cannot handle the environment. As a result his/her psychological growth gets impaired. What we need is to teach children how to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. Parents use a variety of methods including pampering, love, shouting, cajoling, beating, restricting to make the child ‘understand’ what’s good or bad and what technique they are comfortable with. Punishment serves as a technique of controlling inappropriate behaviour. It is certain that if punishment is used appropriately and to the right degree then it can serve its purpose to ‘control’ one’s behaviour. However, one must not forget that we can also teach discipline through explanation, self control, and positive reinforcement.
Narendra Kinger, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist

Upbringing is to blame to some extent
I believe in ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ but having said that I don’t think corporal punishment is the answer.  It could be one of the means employed to discipline a child but in the long run, it will never serve the purpose for which it has been used.  Schools should not adopt this as their method or tool of discipline. Children and mischief go hand in hand. So, while discipline is important, it is also important for school authorities to understand when to be really ‘tough’ and when to turn ‘a blind eye’. Corporal punishment still prevails in our society because it has to do with our upbringing. It appears to be deeply ingrained in us that we need to ‘beat’ our children in order to keep them in our control.
Nikita Crasta, account manager

A counsellor is a must in every school
It’s shocking that incidents involving corporal punishment continue to exist. Reading about such things would make many parents worry about our child’s security while they are away. I think that any kind of punishment that physically or mentally pressurises children should be completely banned. A proper system should be in place, in school and at home as well. We should explain things to children. Every school must have a counsellor and a psychologist. To tackle mischievous or unruly behaviour, students should be sent to the school counsellor rather than giving them any type of punishment that would adversely affect their psyche. Schools need to create an amiable atmosphere where students would feel conformable. When our children go to school, we want to be carefree and not keep worrying about their safety.
Umesh Patil, tax analyst

Punishment instils fear among children 
Reforming the child is an emotional and not a physical act. Hence any physical act such as hitting or caning removes the possibility of moral reform, instils fear in the child and creates negative chemistry between the teacher and the pupil. Reforming the attitude is important, and punishment is not the only solution.  My children are in a good school and I know teachers there are well-trained on how to deal with children. So I’m assured that they are safe. Active parent involvement, greater emotional training for teachers are necessary factors to prevent such things. A child that commits suicide obviously has had no one to confide in. Social support system is the key to better emotional health.
Reeta Gupta, communication consultant

Be patient and don’t expect much
I don’t think for the growth of children there is need to control them through harsh punishment. There are various methods and skills to make them more responsible. All schools should adhere to the Supreme Court ruling and see that no child is a victim of physical violence. Me and my wife never beat our kids and rather explain them everything patiently. Also, we should try and not have too high expectations from them. We always give real example or some kind of demonstration to our children that help them to realise or learn why we tell them to study or learn certain things. I strongly feel that corporal punishment should be completely banned in school.
Akhil Sinha, government employee 

Is punishment the only way out to show the right way?
When I was in Std IV, I was hit by my teacher with a scale on my calf because I was talking in the class rather than solving and focusing on my math problem. The mark remained and I was treated as a ‘hero’ among my classmates. But that was just the beginning. It started a joke but later it became as mockery for me. Soon, I was labelled as the ‘bad’ boy of the school and no teacher ever hesitated in beating me up to instil discipline in me. And to my utter shock, my heroism wasn’t worshiped by my schoolmates anymore. Parents told their children to stay away from me and my parents sided with teachers and others to ‘improve’ me. I was left alone and sometimes punished even if it wasn’t my fault because of the tag I had gained. Even now when I look at my marks, I feel that I was let down by parents and friends. Was canning or slapping the only way to improve me? Was I that bad? Was there no other way my teachers could instil discipline in me?
Over the past few years, cases of corporal punishment have made headlines in the media. It brought an outcry and was banned. However, some schools still resort to this method. ‘Time-out’ or ‘silent corners’ are becoming common. Here a child is sent to a corner to think over what’s wrong or right while others continue to play. The method might not work for some but I wish my teachers had used it on me to make me understand how I should have behaved. Maybe then I wouldn’t have marks to remember my ‘nasty’ past.
Student, name withheld on request.

Cases that have been reported so far
Mumbai
Parents of Fatima High School, Vidyavihar, accused the teachers and the school authorities of corporal punishment in August 29, 2010. “Our daughter has been a victim in this school and when approached the authorities, crudely just give a don’t-care-attitude by saying, “We don’t care, do what you want”.

A girl in Billabong High School was made to sit in the library and locked from outside for hours.

Students of Little Angels School, Sion, were beaten because they had applied mehendi on their palms.

Jaipur
Taking a serious view of the alleged thrashing of a seven-year-old girl by her teacher in a Jhunjhunu school a few months back, the Rajasthan high court issued show cause notices to the state government and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) asking them to explain the apparent failure in checking corporal punishments in schools in the state.

Delhi
Aakriti Bhatia, a student of Modern School, died because she could not be taken to hospital, 2 km away, on time after she was ‘punished’ by her teacher.