The incident where three women teachers of Girls Residential School, Tani Happa, New Sagalee allegedly forced at least 88 girls to undress shows that despite a ban in place corporal punishment is still going on.

The ‘punishment’ was allegedly carried out to identify the student who had scribbled few offensive words against the teachers of the school. Adolescence is a difficult period and one would have expected a mature handling of the situation even more so from women teachers.

Schools of late have taken a beating for many incidents which are in stark contrast to their identity.Meant to be ‘safe havens’ but the growing graph of many gruesome acts against children speaks a different tale.

The Centre had banned it in July 2010. A teacher who resorts to corporal punishment can be sent jail for one to three years. A fine of Rs 50,000 can also be imposed on him. All these provisions are there in the Prevention of Child Offences Bill."

Even though the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, prohibits ‘physical punishment’ and ‘mental harassment’ under Section 17(1) and makes it a punishable offence under Section 17(2), majority of the teachers in our schools still believe in the old saying, spare the rod and spoil the child.

Eliminating corporal punishment in schools is very necessary. Corporal punishment leads to adverse physical, psychological and educational outcomes like increased aggressive and destructive behaviour, increased disruptive behaviour in the classroom, poor performance, increased drop-out rates, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, suicide and retaliation against teachers. All these emotionally scar the children for life.

Children are among the most vulnerable groups in the country and around the world. Such acts become even more traumatic when they occur in safe zones like homes and schools. Arunachal has witnessed gruesome acts towards children in schools. Over the past several years there has been disturbingly repeat occurrence of minor students being physically and sexually abused at the hands of school employees.

Corporal punishment undermines the dignity of a student and it is cruel to put children under corporal punishment in the name of discipline.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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