From canes to caring hands

Mild approach

Spare the rod and spoil the child’ is a maxim that we have all heard — well, at least until recently. Spankings and scoldings were an integral part of classroom teaching and most people have spent many a sleepless night dreading the thought of facing an angry teacher the next day.

        But punishment has gone beyond the realm of the acceptable in recent years and is equivalent with child abuse now. Even after a landmark judgement barring the practice of corporal punishment, alleged cases of violence perpetrated within the confines of classrooms abound.

Says Sulekha N, the mother of a young girl child, “Even today, we hear and read about incidents where children are punished in the most extreme ways possible and this happens in both government and public schools. Students have been humiliated to such an extent that they have gone into depression and in some cases, extreme torture has resulted in death or deformity. I will be sending my child to school soon and the thought about what she will have to face there makes me very anxious sometimes.”

Says Usha Narayanan, a teacher in a public school in the city, “One of the reasons behind this practice is that our educators are very stressed. Especially in government schools, where such instances are observed more, there is a very poor student-to-teacher ratio and resources are also very limited. So many times, these teachers take out their frustration on the children.”

Advocating a policy of ‘reward in public and reprimand in private’, Preeti Galagali, an adolescent health specialist, talks about how the mental trauma associated with punishment is more harmful than the physical distress endured by children. “Some children are more resilient than others and can handle punishments but there is no way of separating these from the rest. Also, you are setting a bad example by showing that if you don’t like what a person does, you can hit them. These things remain imprinted in the minds of the children. And corporal punishment is not limited to schools. I have had children coming to me with cigarette burns and knife wounds which were their punishments for being naughty at home.”

Talking about the futility of such extreme steps, Rekha Jossen, principal of a preschool in Whitefield, says that they only create an aversion in the mind of the child towards the school and the process of studying itself.

“Punishing a child creates a negative impact on a child’s personality and brings down a child’s self-esteem and confidence,” she says, adding, “In order to correct a child, we should engage them in a discussion. It is imperative to point out his wrongdoings in a kind and understanding manner while maintaining eye contact. Intervention of a counsellor will also be helpful.”

Shweta Sharma, a professional, does not agree with the practice of corporal punishment but she is also of the opinion that children are being treated with kid gloves nowadays which makes them unprepared to handle the harsh realities in life later on. “There should be some mode of disciplining children. We have all been reprimanded by our teachers and I think I am none the worse for it. These days, the scenario is such that even if the teacher raises her voice, the parents will be at the principal’s door step the next day.”