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[NEW DELHI, 19 February 2008] - Physical abuse by teachers is driving children out of school in India, the government has admitted, directly blaming corporal punishment for school dropouts for the first time.
The human resource development ministry has asked all states and Union Territories to urgently amend their education laws to penalise teachers or school management officials who hurt children. In a letter to all chief secretaries, ministry secretary Arun Kumar Rath, the country’s top school education official, has also said physical punishment at school may be fuelling “personality problems”. “The desire to escape punishment may lead to school dropouts and/or other personality problems,” the letter said. “While teachers sometimes believe that punishment is one of the essential means of controlling students’ behaviour, there is little doubt that corporal punishment severely affects the human dignity of the child, thereby reducing his/her self-esteem and self-confidence.” The letter coincides with growing acceptance within the government that India’s efforts at ensuring universal access to schools are being countered by the staggeringly high dropout rate of students. Out of every 10 children who join primary school in India, four drop out by the time they reach Class V, according to the latest UNICEF global statistical review, published in December 2007. India, a signatory to the UN’s Education for All by 2015 goal, was showing “insufficient progress” in achieving the target, the report said. The decision to do away with corporal punishment was first taken in 1986, when the National Policy on Education explicitly mentioned that corporal punishment should be firmly excluded from the education system. Yet, 20 years later, a countrywide study by the Centre in 2006 had revealed that two out of every three students in India were a victim of physical abuse at school. In between, the Supreme Court, in 2000, banned corporal punishment. Delhi High Court upheld the ban the same year while Calcutta High Court banned caning of students in 2004. But despite the apex court’s decision, only Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh amended their education laws in 2003 and 2002, respectively, to implement the ban — necessary to lay down a definite punishment for offenders. Idukki, a Kerala district that recently became the first in the country to voluntarily pledge to banish physical punishment, has decided to punish offenders under the Juvenile Justice Act in the absence of a state law. Now, the HRD ministry’s letter has asked the other states to change their laws. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had in the past issued a circular to all affiliated schools, asking them not to resort to physical punishment. Affiliation bylaws of the CBSE were recently amended to empower the school management to punish teachers guilty of physical abuse of students. The ministry has now asked state education boards to emulate the CBSE reforms.