CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, April 22, 2009: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is starting a movement across the country, hold meetings with all school heads to convey that no form of corporal punishment will be tolerated. “These meetings will have to be held ahead of the new academic year,” Commission chairperson Shanta Sinha told The Hindu on Tuesday. The move followed the recent incident in which 11-year-old Shanno Khan of a Delhi school was brutally punished by her teacher. “Unless we learn to respect children and treat them as equals, the issue cannot be resolved.” Prof. Sinha says.
In 2007, the NCPCR wrote to all Chief Secretaries, stressing the need for abolishing this practice. “…It is being noticed that corporal punishment in schools, both government as well as private, is deeply ingrained as a tool to discipline children and as a normal action. All forms of corporal punishment are a fundamental breach of human rights,” Ms.Sinha stated in the letter.
Things have improved little in the last two years, but there are good signs. “There were a few instances of teachers taking a proactive step to address the issue in States such as Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Idukki district in Kerala was declared corporal punishment-free. Unfortunately, we did not receive much feedback at the official level.”
[HPI note: Hinduism Today recently published an educational insight on raising children to be confident and positive, without corporal punishment. If you are a loving parent or an educator, this is an invaluable tool. It can be downloaded here: https://www.hinduismtoday.com/resources/parenting.pdf
Dr. Jane Nelsen, an expert on child-rearing consulted for the creation of the insight, asks: “Where did we ever get the crazy idea that children will do better if we first make them feel worse? Please absorb that statement. It doesn’t make any sense at all—yet it is the basis for all punishment.”]