Ban on corporal punishment

The High Court (HC) on this day last year declared corporal punishment illegal and unconstitutional in all educational institutions throughout the country. Defining caning, beating or subjecting students to any cruel and inhuman punishment as 'misconduct' under the Government Servants Discipline and Appeal Rules 1985, it directed the education ministry to ensure dissemination of the directives and regular inspection to ward off occurrences of corporal punishment. It also directed the ministry to take actions against those in breach of the law. We considered it a historic move to ensure a decent atmosphere in schools for every child, which is a prerequisite for creative learning as opposed to learning by flogging. But we also believe that a law is as good as its implementation.
We have sadly noted that even after a year of the HC order corporal punishment has continued to be meted out in schools located especially in the capital city as reported in media. This owes much to the local government institutions and school governing bodies having failed to disseminate the guidelines provided by the HC. The HC order to form committees in every district to monitor actions in compliance with its directives has also not materialized yet.
We urge the education ministry to propel the local government bodies into launching an awareness campaign among teachers, guardians and students across the country. We emphasize the campaign because it is a commonly held belief that teachers are privileged to beat students to infuse discipline into them. Quite the contrary, it is not only a violation of children's right to equal respect guaranteed by a civilized society, it also leaves an indelible scar on their minds when they are subjected to flogging or any other form of inhuman treatment including verbal abuse.
Side by side with the campaign, formation of the national and the local committees ordered by the HC should be completed to ensure monitoring so that not a single act of corporal punishment goes unreported and unpunished.