Ujjain : Despite efforts of various agencies and government a recent case of corporal punishment was witnessed at Primary School of Damdama here on Thursday. Three students of class V were given corporal punishment by her teacher for making noise in classrooms, and were continuously refusing to refrain after the teacher had given them hints previously.
The children were given Murga punishment for their petty crime and that too in public view, where three stray cattle’s were roaming in the school grounds. Murga punishment is a stressed position of body where the punished person takes a position resembling that of a rooster, by squatting and then looping the arms behind the knees and firmly holding the ears. Having to hold the ears is what makes it extremely painful more than any other corporal punishment.
Some of the possible acts against such activities call for fine and imprisonment of the accused. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which has come into force with effect from April 1, 2010, prohibits ‘physical punishment’ and ‘mental harassment’ under Section 17 (1) and makes it a punishable offence under Section 17(2). To cure such mistakes the parents need to be more responsive and should co-operate teachers in creating better teaching-learning environment in schools. They should also attend parent-teacher meetings held by the school.
Education department should also organise seminars, orientation programmes and workshops in order to update the knowledge of teachers with preventive strategies that they need to follow to improve the teacher-student relationship and create a child-friendly environment in schools.
Above all, the teachers should not be overburdened with non-teaching assignments such as collection of student fee, maintenance of school funds and other similar assignments. Their main focus should be on teaching and solving the problems of students.
