Commissioner of School Education K. Sandhya Rani has said that prevalence of corporal punishment is more across the world, and mental harassment and abuse has more negative impact on the students than physical punishment.
Ms. Rani was addressing a gathering of headmasters from across the State at a one-day workshop on “Guidelines for Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools”, jointly organised by the National and State commissions for protection of child rights and School Education Department here on Thursday.
“Corporal punishment not only causes an increase in cases of school dropouts, but has a drastic impact on mental disturbance, including trauma, disobedience, aggressive behaviour, stubbornness and others among the victim. But there are ways to stop it. One of the effective ways is to create awareness among all the stakeholders and the community,” she said.
“We do react with zero tolerance and suspend the teachers immediately, even if the incident takes place in private schools. But we are able to act only when incidents are reported. Many incidents do not come to light. Stakeholders should raise their voice against such punishments and institutional practices should be changed to address the issue,” Ms. Rani said.
Explaining why mental harassment has more impact on sensitive children these days, Krishna District Educational Officer M.V. Rajya Lakshmi said that in a recent case in the district, a girl student slipped into depression after she was disrespectfully called by a teacher in the classroom. “The student even attempted suicide and recovered only after she was shifted to another school,” Ms. Lakshmi said.
State Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson G. Hymavati stressed the need for eradication of corporal punishment in the State. “When a case is reported, the immediate solution thought of would be a suspension of the teacher. But that alone does not solve the problem. The way teachers and managements treat students should be changed for good,” she said.
NCPRC technical expert Paresh Shah said that the objective of the workshop was to create of pool of master trainers in the State.
Joint Director Krishna Reddy, educationist K. Chitti Babu, former SCPCR chairperson Bala Raju and others were present.