Human Rights Violations: Is Your Child Miserable in Class?
The cautious whispers about teachers who cane children and make their life a complete misery within the classroom keep coming through news channels and news papers. Parents, if your children are going to school and they tell you that they are being caned, it is important to listen. Listen first before jumping to conclusions about whether the kids are lying or the teacher is acting in best interest. Incidents of corporal punishments and human rights violations are common in Indian schools. Some parents accept it because they believe teachers will not punish their children without reason. What we need to understand is that several innocent students are caned and harassed by their teachers, for trivial issues. Public humiliation caused by such punishments, is an extreme set back for a child. Besides creating fright, this affects a child’s mind and causes various behavioral and psychological problems.
Human Rights Violations: Rouvanjit Rawla & Many Other Child Victims
Human rights violations take various forms and extreme corporal punishment is definitely one such form. The suicide of Rouvanjit Rawla, a young school student of La Martiniere school for Boys in Kolkata, hanged himself in his room earlier this year after being caned for bringing stink bombs to school. His father filed a police complaint against the teachers to seek justice. The school’s official response shocked the nation. They tried to find fault with the parents for filing the case late. They questioned the integrity of the parents in raising the issue a month after the boy’s death. They made shocking statements about the deceased boy’s conduct as though to state that he deserved nothing better.
Another incident in June 2010 pertained to eight students of VII standard of a school in Assam, who were caned by their principal, who was drunk. The students were left severely injured and later, the principal was suspended.
In July 2010, 11-year old Sahil Sachdeva of Mother Teresa School, Preet Vihar, New Delhi attempted suicide after he was allegedly beaten up by a teacher for coming late. Sahil, jumped off from the second floor in the school premises. Both his legs are fractured.
A shocking incident took place in June 2009, when a teacher from a Delhi School threw duster at a class VII student, Nitin Rai. The duster broke his glasses and the shards pierced his eyes.
Human Rights Violations: The Law is On Your Side, Don’t Hesitate to Protect Your Child
The fact is that schools in India do not hesitate to wash their hands off such incidents and blame parents in their desperate attempt to clear the school’s reputation. However, psychologists argue that even the most difficult children can be dealt with by other means such as persuasion, friendly attitude, counseling and proper communication. Parents and teachers should be aware that as per Supreme Court’s ruling, any form of corporal punishment is illegal in India. Further, corporal punishments are also banned under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, Act.
The first step for parents is to report the incident to the Principal and if action is not taken, this can be reported to a parent community that is active in the school. If this is not effective or feasible, an FIR can be filed against the teacher with the help of a lawyer, if your child has been badly hurt. You can produce a doctor’s medical certificate that gives details on the injuries suffered by the child as well. The most important thing is not to be silent.
Protecting your child is the first responsible course of action for you to do. By keeping silent or thinking that the teacher may be right to cane your child, you will place your child in more danger. A child’s self-esteem and dignity is ripped apart and he/she is likely to suffer lasting psychological problems too. Most importantly, as a parent, remember, the law is on your side and you have no reason to fear.
Lawrence Sir's punishment was legendary, when I was in School. It was an oiled bat and not a cane. There were at least 5 types of canes in our principal GIG Mann's office. Truly, I personally never felt committing suicide. I rather realised mistakes I did and I promised myself that I will not repeat those mistakes again.
On, a different note, I feel students are a little more sensitive towards self (which is a good thing).
Palash, i agree with you. but scolding a child is never a good option. it affects their self-esteem and confidence.I agree that today's children are more pampered. They are more susceptible to any thing because of the influence of the media and parent's less time to proper upbringing. Parents should inculcate one thing in a child that getting scolded by any one or failing in any matter does not end the life. Life is ended when we want to end it. I have a kid of 4 years she was upset seeing that one of her toys is damaged. I said that don't worry see the spare parts of this toy, we will make something good out of this. They should be learnt that life always has an option, it's just that we have to grab it. But at the same time, no one on this earth is allowed to scold a person for his/her mistake when they are growing up. We must realise that even being a matured human being, we tend to make mistake and for that we dont get caned.It is just that they are physically small and weaker, they must not be punished this way. It is indeed a punishable offence.
It is sad that many parents still believe that corporal punishment is a necessity at least to an extent. The fact is that, a teacher should be able to elicit discipline and attention from the students in the class through his/her eloquence, mode of presentation, extent of preparation and approach rather than through the threat of/implication of physical punishment.
Apart from the physical harm it can cause, corporal punishment would rob students of their self esteem. Some students would carry the associated trauma for an entire life time and may develop a deep hate for the concerned subject.
Congratulations! My sincere appreciation for bringing up this important topic to the limelight...
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