Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Corporal punishment cannot make a child more intelligent: resource material

Staff Reporter

The Hindu

06/03/07

http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/06/stories/2007030601420200.htm

Studies show that the theory of corporal punishment is an ineffective discipline strategy with children and it is often proved to be dangerous.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Corporal punishment cannot improve a child's understanding of a subject or make him `more' intelligent, says a resource material for teachers published by People's Watch, a human rights organisation based in Tamil Nadu.

The 70-page manual, prepared with the assistance of the European Union, was distributed to nearly 400 teachers from various schools in Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Palakkad at a programme on `Preventing torture in India,' organised by the human rights organisation in association with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, in the city recently.

The manual says that research studies have shown that the theory of corporal punishment is an ineffective discipline strategy with children of all ages and it is often proved to be dangerous. In fact, punishment can create anger, resentment and low self-esteem in the minds of the children. It teaches them violence and revenge as solutions to problems and perpetuates itself, as children may imitate what the adults are doing. A frequently-hit child will be a problematic person tomorrow, the manual warns.

However, despite these inherent hazards, corporal punishment still continues to be a regular affair in thousands of schools everywhere. The manual also lists some of the `savage old generation' methods of punishment inflicted on children at school. `Kodandam' was one such practice that was in vogue a generation ago. The punishment meant hanging errant boys upside down and thrashing them. In another more brutal version, children were hung upside down over red chillies, which were lit. Thus, they were forced to sustain both beating and the pungent smell of burning chillies.

Some of the modern day punishments include making children stand in the sun for an entire day, make them kneel down and do work, force them to stand on the bench, caning, pinching, twisting ears and placing school bags on their heads.

In addition to physical trauma, corporal punishments such as slapping by the opposite sex, humiliating children in public, labelling them according to their misbehaviour, locking them in dark rooms, making them sit on the floor of the classroom or pay fines, and preventing them from entering the class can also lead to emotional and negative reinforcement in the minds of the students, says the resource material.

The resource material also points out that a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court had held that corporal punishment was not in keeping with a child's dignity. The court had ruled that inflicting physical punishment on a child was not in consonance with his or her right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. "Just because child is small he or she cannot be denied these rights... Even animals are protected against cruelty. Our children surely cannot be worse off than animals," the High Court ruled.