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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