Parents of Schoolgoers  Discussion Forum

I have observed at close quarters the indignity that kids in India are subjected to. Well into the 21st century, the wooden footruler and the despotic manner of teaching has not undergone a change. The child's individuality and specialness is not cherished, the school and teachers are not accountable for the mental health of students. The attitude is `If you don't like the way we do things here, take your child elsewhere' I have tried hard to reach media/education correspondents as well as teachers and parents in Mumbai but to no avail.Infact the Education Correspondent of a leading national daily was not even aware of Corporal punishment and kept repeatedly referring to it as `Corporate punishment' She then suggested that if I was interested in addressing this issue, I should take the time to talk to schools and revert to her for her article. I guess we are more obsessed with beauty pageants than the dignity of the very people who are the future of this country and then why do we lament about the rising rate of violence and trend of dropping out of educational institutes? Do we have the right to teach kids without any standardised set of qualificarion and ongoing training? One would expect that there should be some attention paid to this rather than sending kids to Bollywood dance classes when this time is better spent bonding with parents. I belive that it is an uphill task, but not an impossible one.
Here's to a better tomorrow. Jaya replied. Dear I believe:

Yes, I agree with you. It is very unfortunate that it is still used in many countries in the world, including India. The instrument used in India is usually the wooden ruler or the cane. The offence usually is failure to do homework, unable to answer questions asked by the teacher in class, failing in tests, not wearing complete uniform...the list is endless. I have also heard of other demeaning punishments like making the pupil kneel down or stand on the bench for the whole school day, stand in front of the class with shoes tied to ears, stand in the classroom's rubbish box, etc. The teachers or the School Management do not realise what these punishments do to the self esteem of tomorrow's citizens and the long term effects it can have on them. Some schools even boast that the secret of their good results and discipline is the use of these punishments. The worst thing is that some parents also use this form of punishment on their wards. So they do not complain when their child receives corporal punishment in school.
However, things are slowly changing. The younger parents these days do not hit their children; they use other forms of discipline. And many schools advertise that they do not use Corporal Punishment on pupils. Hope the others also follow suit.