[Reader-list] Spare the rod and spare the child - Rethinking corporal punishment in schools

[Chintan Girish Modi]

From
http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report_spare-the-rod-and-spare-the-child_1503782
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Spare the rod and spare the child*
 Published: Sunday, Feb 6, 2011, 4:49 IST
By Kareena N Gianani | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Last week, a Kolkata civil court ruled that the principal of one of the most
sought-after schools in the city, La Martiniere, along with three teachers,
could be tried for abetment of suicide in the case of 13-year-old Rouvanjit
Rawla, who killed himself in February last year after being caned. Rawla, it
emerged, was frequently humiliated in the name of discipline.

Ask 13-year-old Om Laud, a student of Shishuvan School, Matunga, about the
case, and he shakes his head. “I’ve heard of such punishment, but it makes
no sense at all,” says the teenager. Laud should know. He is the deputy
external affairs minister in the school parliament, and his opinion is
sought in matters of discipline. Recently, a fourth-grader at his school
tore his classmate’s pants in anger. Surprisingly, none of the teachers came
to know of the incident. The boys called Laud to intervene.

“The act was humiliating, but I could see it was done because there was hurt
involved on both sides. I didn’t demand embarrassing details — it was
important to understand why it happened, and I asked them to suggest
solutions. They argued bitterly, but when they realised that the answers had
to come from them, not from me or a teacher, they began looking at a
practical, long-term solution.” This is the sort of mediation advice that
one seldom hears from 13-year-olds.

Laud, however, says that ‘dialogue’ is the only solution. “I’ve not seen my
friends change after a spanking; they end up carrying so much baggage…”

At his school, there are regular parliament meetings to address nagging
concerns. A teacher oversees the proceedings, as children engage in
‘dialogue’. There are rewards and sanctions that students decide on. Failure
to complete homework isn’t met with pointed questions and punishment, only a
firm request to stay back after school and finish it.

After receiving two warning cards by a teacher for distracting a class, a
middle school Shishuvan student is expected to go outside the class not to
be exhibited as a wrong-doer, but to write a reflective essay explaining his
behaviour, and suggesting what the teacher could do to hold his attention.
If that too does not make a difference, the child is denied access to at
least a part of his favourite lessons.

Shishuvan School adopted the more liberal ways of disciplining children
after much deliberation with child counsellors. The school’s principal, Neha
Chheda, says, “Newer and more thoughtful methods of discipline demand that
we put a ‘why’ to a child’s behaviour — ‘why’ is s/he undisciplined in
class, and so on. Corporal punishment never demands that. And can we cite
instances of children being reformed by being humiliated?”

In a recent case in Karnataka, a 14-year-old boy recuperating from an
illness requested to be excused from physical training. His teacher,
however, punished him for his ‘laziness’ and made him jog around the school.
The boy collapsed and died.

The Right To Education Act, 2009, bans corporal punishment, mental
harassment, detention and expulsion. While the law is welcome, it takes more
than legislation to change the culture of schools.

Maya Menon, director, The Teacher Foundation (TTF), who started a project
called Safe And Sensitive Schools (SASS) last year, says, “Any change in the
culture of the school must start with the teacher, not the student. Look at
most curricula across the country — the idea that tolerance and gentleness
are important is just not on the teacher’s mind.”

Menon, a teacher trainer, talks of the efficacy of Quality Circle Time (QCT)
in enforcing discipline, a method first introduced in the UK by educationist
Jenny Mosley. QCT sees teachers and students sit in a circle. Anything that
comes to the students’ mind is open for discussion. “One student revealed
how he needed help because he was lonely. Before the teacher could
intervene, another student piped up, asking whether it would help if they
had lunch together!”

At one QCT, a child admitted to stealing. That wouldn’t have been possible
in an atmosphere where children are usually punished.
Sujatha Mohandas, principal of Sishu Griha, Bangalore, has been a teacher
for 32 years. She too has good reason to sign up for the TTF programme.
“Twenty years ago, a teacher may have reprimanded a child for not saying
‘Good Morning’. Now, my students say “Hi!” breezily. Does that mean I pull
them aside and teach them ‘manners’?” she asks. A decade ago, parents would
question her ‘soft’ approach and demand more firmness. These days, however,
parents seem to have greater appreciation.

“We should be concentrating on larger issues. How, for instance, to draw out
the child who might be an introvert, and allow him or her expression in a
class full of extroverts? These are the questions that techniques like the
QCT help us tackle,” she says.

Muktangan, an educational programme that offers alternatives to orthodox
teaching methods, trains women from poorer backgrounds to conduct the
education process without recourse to harsh punishment. “Many of those who
undergo the training find jobs at municipality-run schools, where their own
children may be studying,” says Sunil Mehta, a trustee.

“We once asked trainees to define a teacher. They responded that a teacher
was like a potter, who moulds children, who are like clay. We asked what
might happen if the clay was too hard. We were told that the teacher could
beat the child to the right consistency!” says Mehta, who underlines the
fact that a new way at looking at the teacher-student relationship and
notions of discipline also involves a great deal of unlearning. There are
now five such state-run schools in Mumbai, up to grade 7, which are run by
teachers trained at Muktangan.