The cases of complaints by students of being harassed by their teachers has become very common now and it again raises the question of mode of enforcing discipline in schools. Educationists and child right activists prefer the alternative mode of disciplining children. They aver that an alternative way of disciplining a child would enhance the child’s productivity.

The teacher assumes an all powerful position in the current educational system, virtually imbuing him or her with authoritarian streaks and empowering him or her to mete out punishment. The need of the hour, think child rights activists, is to make teachers realise that internal discipline is far more valuable than external discipline.
The first step towards an alternative mode of discipline is to respect a child’s identity whatever be the socio-economic background. “A hyper-active child is termed indisciplined. Instead of punishing the child, why not channelise their energy to something more creative and productive,” reasons Dr V P Niranjanaradhya, member of the the government’s committee for `Protection of Children against Violence and Corporal Punishment in Schools’.

Since children spend most of their waking hours at school, parents think teachers must deal with the children in a more friendly manner. They feel it helps build a good rapport between the student and the teacher.

“Discipline is based on building the right relationship with a child more than using the right techniques and helping the child develop inner controls that last a lifetime. This is not done in schools today ,” says Venkatesh Prasad whose seven-year-old son studies at the Cathedral High School.

Inventure Academy has introduced a grading system for everything the child does in school. This helps build a competitive atmosphere and the students are bound to behave at their best to score the maximum grades.
“We always try and talk the children into discipline. We award the child when he or she does something good and withdraw certain privileges when the child refuses to adhere to certain norms,” says Noorain Fazal, CEO and Co- founder of Inventure Academy.

Expert speak
School are or should be a microcosm of society and the values that they practice — more than the ones they preach — shape the pupils as they reach adulthood.

Parents and more importantly students themselves can be involved in setting and maintaining the discipline code –so that it is not an “us” versus “them” situation.

Shubha Chacko, Co-director and researcher Aneka
Nina C George