Parents' support sees offenders let off easily
Teachers are never put behind bars or dismissed from service if they are found to be ill-treating their students.
Hyderabad: Though there are laws against corporal punishment of children, they are often shamelessly flouted because of the mistaken notion that children must be beaten for their own good. This has led to instances of much physical brutality of students in schools.
It’s common to hear parents say that they too went through this and it made them resilient, but it’s both unnecessary and wrong to inflict mental agony and physical pain on young children who have no one to turn to for support. Educational experts and victims say that such teachers must be punished and even district educational officers (DEO) say that offenders get off very lightly.
Dr Ravikanth Rao, DEO of Mancherial, said, “Teachers should be first made aware of the Right to Education Act that clearly states that corporal punishment is banned. We need teachers’ to be emotionally trained first. The tendency to lose one’s temper over someone half one’s size can never be justified.”
Teachers are never put behind bars or dismissed from service if they are found to be ill-treating their students. Dr Rao says that they are usually suspended during an inquiry but no teacher has been dismissed for the crime.
“At the most, they are taken back into service after being given a warning and if the case is a major one, their increment is cut,” says Dr Rao.
The DEOs claim that offenders should undergo rigorous counselling before being deemed fit for service. “While developing a separate counselling mechanism for teachers might take time, there should at least be a system of monitoring. There might be many more cases that are going unnoticed,” said professor Rajkumar K., an educational expert.