Education takes a beating

In July 2014, a widely telecast video that left the nation outraged showed a blind teacher caning three blind students mercilessly in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, even as they kept crying and pleading for him to stop. Social activists termed the incident “extremely brutal”.

In August in Mumbai, three students of Vagad Gurukul International School in Vasai were found dead. Their classmates alleged they were thrashed with belts and shoes for scoring poor marks.
So, isn’t corporal punishment supposed to be banned in the country? Yes, it is; but only on paper. In schools across the country, students are routinely caned, punished and humiliated in an attempt to make them walk the straight and narrow path.

A National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) survey conducted among 6,632 children across the country in 2012 showed that 99% of them had either been punished severely or humiliated in schools. The survey, which included schools from all boards, found that physical punishments were prevalent in both government and private schools and kids as young as three were not spared either.
The survey results show several teachers are unaware about the law regarding corporal punishment or even if they are aware about it, they are simply insensitive.

Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, corporal punishment is banned. It is defined as physical or mental harassment or any kind of discrimination and it is illegal and liable to punishment under Section 17 of the Act.
Two weeks ago, an 8-year-old 2nd standard girl in Dausa, Rajasthan, died after being thrashed by a teacher who now faces murder charge. In May 2013, a Kolkata teacher dragged an eight-year-old boy and reportedly banged his head against the wall. The injured child was neither taken to hospital nor given any first-aid. He died the next day. Another 15-year-old student of Jalpaiguri committted suicide days after his teacher allegedly hit him with a duster after he broke a bench in July 2013.

In 2006, an 8th standard student of Guru Nanak School in Mumbai died after being ‘thrashed’ by his drawing teacher for not doing his homework. He was apparently naughty and performed poorly in exams.

These incidents highlight the vulnerability of kids and teenagers studying in schools across India. They also expose the extent and scale of corporal punishment existing in our school education system though it is supposed to be completely banned.

“At least 65-70% of students in Mumbai schools, including posh international schools which declare in their admission forms that they don’t use corporal punishment, face all degrees of punishments, including verbal abuse and taunts,” Arundhati Chavan, president of Parents Teachers Association United Forum, said. The forum conducted a survey among teachers in 2011 which revealed that “the personal and professional stress of teachers come out as corporal punishment”.

Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education, an NGO, said: “Physical punishment is more rampant in towns and villages while city schools mentally harass students in the name of discipline. Unfortunately, no platform exists in our country where parents can lodge complaints about corporal punishment. School education officers are extremely callous and the Child Rights Commission is inaccessible to people outside the capital making the situation worse.”

Among the various types of corporal punishment, the primitive method of caning is still in vogue in Indian schools. Also, students are regularly slapped, their ears are boxed, and they are hit with rulers or dusters. In some cases, they are pinched or their hair yanked.

“In a 2007 study we found the crime is rampant in every single district of the country with two out of three schoolchildren being physically abused,” an official from the Union ministry of women and child development said. “Things haven’t changed much even after the NCPCR guidelines and the RTE Act were implemented.”