Punishment And Harassment Of Students Must Stop

In a heart-wrenching incident, A student of 7^th standard committed suicide after being scolded by her teacher…

According to The Right to Education (RTE) corporal punishment, physical or mental, is prohibited in schools. 

However, of late, many such cases have cropped up in schools in Pune too. Pune365 takes opinions from experts, parents and students. 

While speaking to a City based Psychologist he said, ” Physical and Mental punishment affect children’s development in various ways. If harsh punishments are used to get children in a discipline he may fear the punishment but will not understand the aim of following rule behind it.

Physical and mental punishment to a child by teachers or parents may develop poor self-esteem low self-confidence and suicidal at times. It may also hamper their social environment and studies.

He further added that “Parents should not be completely depended on the teacher and ensure that they spend enough time talking to their child every day. Parents should not only be responsible for their material needs but also physical mental and emotional.”

There are various ways of getting the child in discipline, here are some ways to discipline your child without yelling of hitting them:

Children accept positive instructions faster, so explain them about the right things to do, not only the bad one to not do.

Explain to them of what they did is wrong.

A reward for good behaviour should be given immediately.

Consistency and effective communication is the key!

Narendra Goidani Founder, WOW Parenting says, “The role of a teacher should be to ignite curiosity to LEARN and to facilitate that learning.

Today, most teachers, are only focused on covering the subject.

It is not difficult to train a notorious kid, There is something called TOUGH LOVE and something called ROUGH LOVE.

With TOUGH LOVE, most children can be disciplined. If kids are not handled properly they lead to anxiety and stress which leads to Mental harassment, it creates a COMPLEX that hampers the potential of the child.

Three forces make a child:

1. School
2. Society
3. Family.

The first two are NOT in the parent’s control. Parents need to ensure the third force is completely supportive of the child. That’s what they can do. That’s where they should excel.

Quitting doesn’t mean failing, Sometimes we students have no other option but to bear the humiliation and mental harassment our teachers put us through, says Myra Shaikh, student.

I still remember the day when I was insulted by my economics teacher for not knowing the economic formula of marginal utility.

The teacher said, “Girls are meant for cooking and washing utensils” and on back answering to him, he threw me out of the class and didn’t let me attend a single lecture.

I had no other option than doing it on my own, if I would have complained to my parents or principal I was sure of getting detained.

The whole episode is a nightmare to me, I still feel little shaken when I see such incidence in our schools with some juniors. While a teacher is supposed to protect the kids in school, you have some harassing the students, Shaikh added.

A teacher is supposed to be the best director of a kids life, since the child spends most of his or her time in school, says Kamla Pandit, Parent.

Corporal Punishment of any kind should be abolished in schools. Teachers should be sent for training on handling the students in the school.

Physical examination and timely counselling should be done more often to teachers. Teachers should be made aware of the laws and policies of child abuse and counsellors should repeatedly check with students in the school. Counselling one child a month should be included in the rulebook

While parents should also keep a close watch on their kid’s activity and stay in regular touch with their teachers, Pandit added.

Schools are known to be the safest place for the kids, but these repeated instances of child abuse in schools have made them no longer safer, says Vivek Tope, Parent

Kids are very weak mentally and hence to deal with them one need lots of patience. Teachers should be fined or terminated, if found insulting or humiliating a student.

School need to work more proactively on understanding children rather than protecting their school teachers and reputation. Students can be disciplined without pushing them to a situation resulting in mental harassment, Tope added.

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