Fearing reprisal by schools, parents often keep mum

Last March, Antonio Da Silva School, Dadar, hit the headlines after a 10-year-old student was allegedly paraded naked and forced to clean the school toilet. While the school denied the charges, Heer Gandhi's parents approached the police. The boy gave exams in April amid police presence even as a probe by cops was inconclusive.

When Heer's parents decided to shift him to another school and sought the leaving certificate (LC), it came with the remark "Parents of the child have defamed the school". The matter reached State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) which directed the school to remove the adverse remark and issue a fresh certificate in two days.

"Another school admitted my child, but we are yet to get the fresh LC from Antonio. What is the purpose of approaching the child rights commission when schools don't follow its orders," asked Pushpa Gandhi, Heer's mother. On its part, the school sued Pushpa and her husband for Rs1 crore each, which the parents said was a threat message to others.

Trustee Leela D'Souza did not respond to calls and messages by dna.

Heer's case highlights the failure of our school education system to address the issue of corporal punishment, which is completely banned under the Right to Education Act. The National Commission for Protection of the Child Rights (NCPCR), 2012, also seeks to eliminate all kinds of punishment to minors.

While the Gandhis were not ready to be bullied, most parents just keep mum. "Over 90% of the cases go unreported even in cities like Mumbai as parents are either ignorant or they fear further harassment of their wards by teachers," says Arundhati Chavan, president of Parents Teacher Association United Forum. Despite instances of large-scale violations of child rights in the state, the SCPCR has no statistics on such cases.

With no proper grievance redressal platform, parents today have to approach the police which dither on registering a case and subsequent probe. Schools invariably refuse to accept any mistake as they are keen to save their 'business',

Though the Parent-Teacher Association is mandatory in every school, it leaves aggrieved parents to fend for themselves. And taking on the management, often backed by politicians, is always an uphill task.

Parents gather courage only a matter is very serious. "Schools try to defend the teacher saying she is very good, has an unblemished track record or your child is problematic. They also ask parents to withdraw the kid if they wish. This works as a trump card as the admission especially in the middle of an academic session is cumbersome," rued a parent.

Education activist Shaym Sonar says, "The kids from poor families suffer more as teachers make them mop the classrooms, arrange benches and do household chores."

Experts say the need of the hour is an an effective grievance redressal mechanism linked to every school across India. The NCPCR has recommended a special cell in every school for monitoring corporal punishment and an undertaking from all teachers before they join school.

Prashant Redij, spokesperson of the School Principal Association, Maharashtra, said, "Schools don't have corporal punishment monitoring cells as we are unaware of these guidelines." Avnita Bir, principal of RN Podar School said the government must organise workshops to sensitize teachers.

Education Secretary Ashwini Bhide said, "The government had issued a GR on January 25, 2011 clearly mentioning Section 17 of RTE Act which prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment. All the schools and teachers are aware of these provisions as trainings have been conducted on RTE. If needed, we would again issue the instructions to sensitize the schools."