Despite ban, Corporal punishment to students still persists in schools

Srinagar, Apr 25: Despite a blanket ban and repeated circular instructions issued by the education department, corporal punishment to students still persists in schools in many areas, particularly in Srinagar.

Besides facing corporal punishment from the teachers, the victim students are silenced by fear and are threatened not to share the incidents with their parents.

With this, the parents in most of cases remain uninformed about the abuse faced by their kids in their schools and with the passage of time, the issues are put under the carpet by the concerned management of the schools.

Recently, a student was given corporal punishment and was later further threatened for sharing the grievance with his parents.

The incident took place in one of the leading private schools situated in old Srinagar.

"A boy from second grade of the school was pulled up by one of his teachers for making noise. And he twisted the child’s ear badly. The parent was discussing the issue with other parents while waiting for the bus at the stop. This is how the news came out," a parent informed Greater Kashmir.

"The child kept on puking and when the parents went to school to complain, the teacher threatened the child later on for complaining to his parents," the parent said.

The parents said that it has become common in educational institutions, particularly private schools and sought safety measures for their wards.

"Many parents have raised these issues with the concerned management of the schools. They assure to keep a check on it as they have CCTVs installed in schools. But the teachers still indulge in such practices and end up doing this often," a parent from Srinagar told Greater Kashmir.

Experts say that such episodes expose the violation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, which strictly prohibits corporal punishment to students.

Over the years, the School Education Department (SED) has issued repeated circulars and orders directing school heads and teachers to ensure zero tolerance against Corporal punishment to students.

Amid the complaints, the stakeholders say that there is weak implementation of these orders and circular instructions in schools, particularly in private schools, due to which these incidents continue to happen.

The stakeholders and parents urge the education department to ensure that all the schools install CCTV in the premises  so that such incidents are captured and actions against these teachers follow as well.

Amid the complaints, a top official in the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) said the department has a grievance cell in place where parents can submit complaints of corporal punishment and other grievances as well.

"But we cannot take action against any school unless we receive formal complaints from parents. Once we receive a formal complaint,s we can act accordingly against the school," the official said.