The state, and individual schools, are not doing enough to protect
children from physical abuse. The recent gruesome incidents in which three
students were brutally thrashed by the principal of a school in Kakinada in Andhra
Pradesh, and equally despicable conduct by authorities elsewhere, are shocking
reminders of this fact. We have to acknowledge this naked truth and also
recognise that the onus of ensuring the safety and security of children on
campuses is ultimately the responsibility of the teaching and non-teaching
community. Else, we cannot confront the circumstances on the ground where
violence committed by authorities against those under their care routinely goes
unpunished. The Union Women and Child Development Ministry banned corporal
punishment in 2010, following the tragic death of a ward who was subjected to
humiliation by the principal of a reputed Kolkata boys’ school.
The many punitive measures listed in the guidelines are effective
only on paper. Spanking, caning and such-like physical and verbal abuse injure
and insult victims. Such acts largely go unnoticed and unchecked because the
belief that these are effective means to discipline wards runs deep in the adult
psyche. Incidents such as those in Kakinada, and in Kolkata — where a three-year-old boy was virtually tortured by his care-giver —
are but extreme examples which expose susceptibility to brutal behaviour.
Publicising the guidelines among teachers, parents and children may influence
positive behaviour. Training programmes ought to equip teachers with humane,
practical and effective skills to deal with children within and outside
classrooms. There is an underlying assumption that children require minimal
academic and allied inputs and that these may be provided by almost anybody. The
fact is that these must be age-appropriate and inculcated by skilled teachers.
The cause for indiscipline could also be far-from-stimulating
teaching methods and an unhealthy teacher-pupil ratio. Most schools have also
dispensed with science laboratory activity to demonstrate practicals. The
profession has long ceased to attract the best of talent owing to poor
remuneration in many private schools and adverse conditions of service.
Cumulatively, the atmosphere is one where the energies of students are not
channelised into constructive and meaningful avenues. These systemic limitations
are the result of the low priority accorded to basic education by successive
governments in India. With universal free and compulsory education a legal right
now, there is reason to hope for qualitative improvements in conditions in
schools and in learning outcomes.
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