Injuries and deaths due to beatings at school, suicides committed by students when they receive punishment at the hands of their teachers – these news have lost their shock value, they seem to occur every other day. A recent case was that of Rouvanjit Rawla of the prestigious La Martiniere School in Kolkata, who committed suicide after being caned by the principal.

Though parents too are guilty of this misdemeanour, it is mostly teachers who get into the news for whatever reason. It may be because parents are more careful, the child being their own and they ensure that they do not react extremely to their children’s follies.

Let us consider corporal punishment from the point of view of both teachers and students.

What is it that prompts teachers who play an important role in moulding a child’s character to raise their hand against their students?

Is it possible that the teachers want to show-off the power they wield? I have personally seen a teacher throw a heavy black-board duster at students when they have failed to solve a mathematics problem, where they has been no instigation whatsoever on the part of the students. Don’t these knowledgeable teachers pause to consider the implications of their thoughtless action? What if the child gets hurt?

It may be anger which makes the teacher hit a child. When a student interrupts the lesson by misbehaving or is a nuisance at school, the teacher may get quite mad at him. Without thinking of the consequences, without thinking about right or wrong, he may resort to caning the student. The issue may be a small one and there will be other ways to tackle the problem but rage literally stops the thinking process of a person and the teacher acts blindly on a reflex.

Or is it helplessness on the part of the teacher? When unable to control a particularly naughty student, the teacher who is at his wits’ end may decide that corporal punishment is the only way out.

What about the student? How will corporal punishment affect him?

The child may feel belittled, more so if the punishment is given in the presence of others. An obstinate child may stubbornly repeat the mistake or try out a new prank. A habitual prankster, with the innumerable spankings received, may become thick-skinned and will care two hoots for the punishment. A sensitive child repeatedly beaten may begin to feel that he is bad and deserves to be beaten. Such a child may grow up to be a person with an inferiority complex, a person with low self-esteem. Or the child may bottle up all the resentment and give vent to it by inflicting harm on his own self or others either now or later in life.

Mind you, it is quite possible that none of the above may happen and the punished child may just learn from his mistakes and grow up to be a normal person. But surely corporal punishment is not the correct way to set right a child’s errant behavior. A child is not an animal in a circus to be conditioned to behave in a specific manner by caning.

With love and affection, with sternness if required, a child can be corrected gently without instilling fear. If this doesn’t yield the desired result, other ways will have to be sought, like approaching the parents, counselling the child and so on. Please “spare the rod, spare the child”.

Author: Pratibha Shenoy (Basavanagudi, Bengaluru)

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