SPARE THE CHILD
Should the children be physically beaten in schools or not is in debate these days. Sparked by the news of a 13 year old boy of La Martiniere college , Kolkata who on being beaten by his teacher and mentally tortured thereafter committed suicide. Shockingly what emerges is the aloof and insensitive stance of the school management. Though ‘corporal’ punishment is banned in India it is practised widely. As is normally the case such atrocities get highlighted when it affects the urban rich. Poor rural India suffers such tragedies perennially but the matter never gets reported nor resolved. We are not even aware as to how the teachers treat children and young students in far flung areas in rural India where the Diktat of the ‘Masterji’ runs supreme. Many schools have only one teacher who teaches all subjects to all the primary classes and caning , abusing and physical assault is a routine to maintain discipline. Much of it emanates from the misuse of power . As we say the future of the child is in the hands of the teacher , but this authority cannot be handled by many , specially in areas where the supervision is non existent on teachers. Children do complain to the parents but the parents too are socially downtrodden and hence hesitant to approach for justice . In some cases the parents are willing to tolerate such atrocities if it ensures their child’s future . Children therefore continue to suffer.
The ‘violence’ need not necessarily be physical it could be ‘verbal’ and therefore mental. I remember my son studying in class 1 in Mumbai, when often I waited outside the class in order to take him back home, I found him quietly sitting in his chair. The teacher was all praise for his behaviour . It was later I learnt that students were terror stricken of her and so remained quiet as she would not only smother any whisper but not hesitate to beat the children. My son therefore withdrew himself for a while. There was this another teacher by the name ‘Gayatri’ who in order to punish my daughter who was slow in writing would make her sit on the floor. This had such an ill affect on my child that she lost her appetite for more than three months. I had to confront the teacher requesting her to dilute her novel disciplining techniques. I ; as a parent have been voicing my opposition to any kind of violence on children. At various Schools the issue was raised by me during the Annual parent teacher meet and conveyed that corporal treatment is no means to apply on children. Once a hindi teacher slapped my daughter for some minor error. The next day I confronted the teacher, though she denied having slapped; thereafter she treated my daughter with care. There was this famous Mrs Kashyap at a Convent School in Mumbai who was full of self praise for making children mentally stronger by shouting and screaming at them. In my opinion she was a poor teacher but the school management had taken favour from her and therefore she was their favourite. Once when I noticed my daughter reluctant to go to school fearing fearful treatment from Mrs Kashyap I met her and communicated my opinion on verbal and mental violence on children.
Children in my opinion should study in free and fearless environment . Few schools practice such principles in letter and spirit . The issue is that teachers are employed from the wide cross section of Indian society where teaching is considered as a means to mere employment and the nobility of the profession is never emphasised . Many of our children have battered childhood at home which gets extended to school. The memory of Charles Dicken’s novel Nicholas Nickleby are revived where in the story in a scene which is the turning point of the novel Nicholas snatches the whip from the hands of the cruel master who is whipping a boy , he then whips the master much to our delight. Situation in many parts of India may not be much dissimilar to the times of Dickens, when the poor were not only ill treated but humiliated to the point of torture.
Many of my own school teachers at St Joseph Dehradun and later Allahabad were famous for hitting children. Some names are unforgettable; Mr Thapa the well dressed hindi teacher was famous for slapping even the senior boys occasionally. Though Hindi teachers are not much feared in English medium schools Mr Tripathi did not spare any case of indiscipline. During my time despite a case of caning pending in court our Head master Father A G Rego continued with his missionary zeal. It was said that he had mercilessly caned one student and his father had initiated legal action. I remember that Father Rego did consult my father who was then a lawyer at the High Court. This aberration of father Rego was condoned by students as he was an educationist of high order and had published books on English language which were held in high esteem by students past and present. I too was caned at least on two occasions by Father Rego for having failed in class tests . The caning was on hands—Father would firmly hold the right hand palm with his left hand and and carry out execution from his right hand. It was a quick fire action and we were left nursing our pain for long in addition to the humiliation of having failed. Mr Benedict was our class teacher in class viith who was known for cold blooded tight slaps he seemed to enjoy it and would bring his victim closer by pulling him prior to the act. Soon he got married and we learnt that his wife could not tolerate the physical abuse and left him. Mr More my class teacher of class vith of Anglo Indian descent , once thrashed me for not being attentive during the assembly when the prayer was being said. Though later we met cordially on many occasions I have neither forgiven nor forgotten him because I felt that he was not fair, there was no need to hit me , he could have just scolded me . All these caning and slapping leave a mark on the mental health of children and affects them adversely in life. Disciplining children may appear to be an impossible task and teachers may find physical threat as the easiest option but we have to teach our teachers in handling situations in an innovative and subtle manner.
Parents therefore can play an active role to restrain corporal punishment but the huge gap in social and economic levels restricts us. Rousseau , Tagore and Wordsworth recommended free and fearless environment for children. That may be a utopian concept but certainly we can adopt some of their principles. Tagore and Wordsworth practiced what they preached.
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