Dignity of the Child

I was shocked to know the reason for the prolonged absence of Ranganath from office.

I was under the impression that Ranganath’s father had become critically sick once again. The whole office knew that Ranganath’s father had been in bed for over a year due to old age. But Ranganath’s absence this time had nothing to do with his father’s illness. He was at home for a strange reason – his teenage son had decided to stop going to school ever again. His son was sad, depressed and determined not to go back to school. Ranganath was trying in vain to grapple with the situation!

It was corporal punishment in school that had pushed his son to this situation. Apparently, he had been facing severe punishment at school for miscellaneous reasons. Extreme humiliation and repeated physical abuse at school had left a deep scar in his mind. The school appeared to him as a dreadful place. Ranganath was trying to persuade his son to speak out what exactly had happened at school; but his son would give no details. His son did not want Ranganath even to meet the school authorities, lest he should face the brunt of punishment again. His little mind could think of just one solution – he would never again step into that dreadful place called school.

Ranganath pleaded again and again with him: ‘punishment is a way of disciplining students, and it is in their (students’) interest’; ‘Ranganath was himself brought up with regular corporal punishment commonly used in schools in his childhood’; ‘teachers think of your future and do not intend to harm you physically’; ‘teachers know what is best for students and they must have the freedom to impose discipline’; etc.

Nothing could pacify his son. Ranganath was perhaps not convinced with his own arguments. He knew something was terribly wrong, but did not know how to deal with it.

Corporal punishment in schools is a menace that is not acknowledged well enough in our society. The pity is that most parents endorse teachers’ (so called) right to punish students physically in the name of disciplining them. No one knows when the line is crossed and the teacher turns a tyrant.

I remember my school days, when beating students in the classroom was common. A teacher could not be imagined who did not use a stick, a duster, a scale or even his own hands to hit students for various reasons. There were only a few exceptions. Punishment and abuse by teachers used to be our daily routine. We feared our teachers, which was considered as respect for the latter. Over three decades after passing out from school, whenever my classmates organise alumni get-togethers, our favourite discussions revolve around romanticising the classroom horror of the time. We remember our school days by recalling incidents of teachers hitting specific students or our glorified failed attempts to dodge likely punishments.

I thought times had changed and corporal punishment in schools had become a thing of the past; some incidents highlighted at times in news channels were perhaps sporadic exceptions. But the lessons from Ranganath’s experience and a little search over the Internet have unfolded the enormity of the problem.

A Government report of 2007 (commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Child Development) shows some horrible statistics: out of the sample surveyed by the Committee, 69% children reported physical abuse including corporal punishment in all settings including schools. The physical abuse was found to be more in the smaller age group (5 to 12 years) of children. Further, it was higher for boys compared to girls in the older age group. The same survey also elicited stakeholders’ views on corporal punishment. What is shocking is, over 44.5% of those surveyed felt it (corporal punishment) was necessary to discipline children while 30.0% expressed no opinion. A small 25.5% of the surveyed stakeholders disagreed with its necessity. There seems to be an inherent societal support to physical punishment in schools.

If you thought 2007 (the year when the Ministry’s survey was held) was too distant in time, there are many more surveys conducted subsequently by various organisations. The results unfortunately are no better. A 2014 document showing a survey (covering the period 2002 to 2009) of 3000 children on corporal punishment in Andhra Pradesh revealed the following: 92% of children aged 7-8 years reported having witnessed corporal punishment in the last typical week at school, while 77% said they had experienced it (http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/assets/pdfs/states-reports/India.pdf). Surveys held in West Bengal, Delhi (2014) and Lucknow (2015) are some more examples. The statistical information shows the enormity of the issue.

Corporal punishment in schools is against the dignity of a child as it inflicts insult, pain and causes emotional setbacks. The international community is alive to the cause of the child as can be seen from the overwhelming majority of countries joining the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted since 1989. It speaks about the right to protection of the child against abuse. The convention specifically states that school discipline should not be in violation of child rights. India has signed and ratified the convention in 1992. Despite international awareness, corporal punishment is still in practice, officially and non-officially in many countries; a report on global progress towards prohibiting all corporal punishment in schools prepared in September 2013 by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children bears testimony to it.

India’s official position on abolition of corporal punishment in schools is evident for long. One cannot more than agree with what has been stated in the Education Policy that was revamped in 1986. Let me quote from the policy as it best expresses the policy intentions: “A warm, welcoming and encouraging approach, in which all concerned share a solicitude for the needs of the child, is the best motivation for the child to attend school and learn. A child-centred and activity-based process of learning should be adopted at the primary stage. First generation learners should be allowed to set their own pace and be given supplementary remedial instruction. As the child grows, the component of cognitive learning will be increased and skills organised through practice. The policy of non-detention at the primary stage will be retained, making evaluation as disaggregated as feasible. Corporal punishment will be firmly excluded from the educational system and school timings as well as vacations adjusted to the convenience of children.”

Unfortunately the above intentions have not translated into reality.

Teachers and parents need to be made aware of the need to abolish corporal punishment in schools. Social awareness is the key – not legislation and well-drafted policy intentions.

I hope Ranganath will soon restore hope and dignity to his son’s life.

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Author: Manoranjan Mishra

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