Discipline or abuse, asks study

Dispur to abolish corporal punishment in govt and private schools

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi at the news conference in Guwahati on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections Guwahati, July 30 : When an “errant” student is forced to raise her skirt and her bottom caned in front of the entire class, the act degenerates into child abuse rather than being a teacher’s way of ensuring classroom discipline. A study, conducted by Gauhati High Court’s Law Research Institute and made public today, has revealed disturbing facts about corporal punishment prevalent in most schools of the state. Almost simultaneously, chief minister Tarun Gogoi has pitched for positive disciplinary action against truant children by deciding to abolish corporal punishment in government and private schools. Gogoi told reporters this afternoon that the government would bring in a legislation to this effect. “We have decided to abolish corporal punishment in all schools. Some states have already done it and I want Assam to join that list.” The chief minister said corporal punishment instils a fear psychosis in a child besides a feeling of hatred towards others. He also cited it as one of the reasons for children dropping out of school. “We want a child to be disciplined but corporal punishment is not the way. We want positive disciplinary action.” Gogoi was almost echoing what the study by the Law Research Institute said. The study found that corporal punishment like ear-twisting, being hit with a ruler, being forced to stand or kneel while holding ears, being pinched and slapped are still used to discipline students in many schools. “There are instances when the teacher throws a piece of chalk or a duster at students yawning in class. There are worse things happening in schools. Very recently, we heard that a girl of Class IX was beaten on her bare back in front of the entire class,” the report says. According to the study, 69 per cent of student respondents admitted that schools meted out such forms of punishment. The study found that children are punished for petty issues like wearing a red ribbon instead of the colour specified in the uniform, for using scented erasers or using a fancy pencil. The study, which is an attempt to highlight the prevailing situation of corporal punishment in the state, is based on data collected by a team of the Law Research Institute. The team comprised the institute’s director Jeuti Barooah, advocate Rakhee Sirauthia and research officers Baharul Islam and Rangaranjan Das. Barooah said to authenticate the primary data from various points of view, the team carried out interactions among teachers, students and parents during May and June 2009. It selected four districts from separate zones of the state — Dibrugarh in Upper Assam, Dhubri in lower Assam, Hailakandi in Barak Valley and Kamrup district, including Guwahati. The study found that parents, too, supported small measures of corporal punishment. Some even opined that “teachers’ scoldings were blessings”. The findings of the study were presented at a state consultation on Discipline with Dignity — Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools in Assam, organised by the Law Research Institute and Unicef at Shilpgram in the city. Speaking at the consultation, the head of department of psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College, Dipesh Bhagwati, said, “Corporal punishment at times goes to the level of child abuse. As a result, children stop playing, lose interest in studies and also refuse to go to school.”