When I was in school, I was never slapped by any teacher, not that I was a brilliant student, but I was too precious for my teachers just like all my classmates were. Taking this into consideration, I was a little surprised on the need to introduce guidelines for eliminating corporal punishment. As far as I was concerned, it never existed.
The government has been making diligent efforts to implement these guidelines under Section 35 (1) of RTE 2009. To reinforce these efforts, my school also organised a workshop for the teaching and non-teaching staff of the school, so that we could keep up with the legal implications of the regulations being put into place. For a moment as the workshop progressed, my mind was too biased to look at the regulations as anything good. We are not that bad, are we? After listening to the guidelines with objectivity, I realised, one of us is considered bad. Almost every day national and regional newspapers carry news of one or the other student committing suicide on not being treated right in the classroom. Why? Under Right to Education, these much needed guidelines are here to address such issues.
Clichéd as it may sound, we teachers are not only dealing with delicate minds, but we are also helping the society raise mentally and physically healthy people. In some part, the guidelines talk about ignoring minor disturbances like talking in the classroom and it also clearly mentions that as teachers we should be able to handle the academic performance of the students and involve the parents of the students at crucial junctures. The guidelines completely forbid the teachers to cause any pain to students – mental or physical. Indeed! Suddenly, being a teacher is not a ‘comfortable job’, it calls for diligence, creativity, vigilance and empathy at all times.
Times have Changed
In the era of globalisation and with the implementation of these much required rules and regulations, teaching has become an even more challenging job. It is no longer the domain for people who come into teaching for having failed to find a place in any other profession. Thankfully! This requires us to be more vigilant and compassionate at all times. Exhausting as it may sound, but we no longer can take even a moment easy. It is only natural, sometimes for a teacher to lose her/his calm if there is some disturbance in the class over and over again. Now, these guidelines will coerce us to think of creative ways to eliminate these disturbances. Punishment is easy, but looking for creative ways to channelize all the energy is difficult. And this is exactly what we need to do.
I clearly remember, I was in class 6 in an English medium school, straight out of a Hindi medium school. I was not only awkward, but also low on self confidence and too complacent to participate in anything. My homework was sloppy and I was usually punished. Punishment was effective, it forced me to do better. But, more effective was the pat on my back by my principal at that time. Somehow she understood what I was going through and that understanding in her eyes pushed me a step closer to becoming a self confident woman.
After going through these guidelines thoroughly, I still could not answer one simple question. Why were these challenging? To answer this question, I explored every emotional, physical and knowledgeable corner of my classroom. I found the answer in the system of teaching. Yes, teaching and not education. We as teachers sometimes focus too much on bookish knowledge, which of course is important, but equally important is the need to give wings to the students. This Eureka moment came in when I asked my class 12 students as to what they wanted to do after passing out from school. Their answers were simple, ranging from B.A. Political Science to B.A. Economics. It was a telling moment for me. Despite being from progressive times and progressive education system, students were still not receptive for progressive, out-of-the-box career options, not that Economics or Political Science is bad. This attitude of staying in the rut, in the safe zone and attaching oneself to the familiar percolates from the teachers to the students and not the other way round. This is the answer to why we teachers need to shout in the class or punish the students for anything. We only see the purpose of their being in the school, but we don’t see why we are there? We see them talking and misbehaving, but we do not see the reason behind it. Every student comes from a different situation and background and these guidelines have reminded us about it again.
These guidelines to prevent the use of corporal punishment in the school have come at the right time to open our minds and potential as teachers. Further, not to forget, the guidelines have brought in just the right change, much needed in the Indian classrooms. These have tried to do away with gender discrimination of any type as well.
Loopholes? Yes!
Guidelines to eliminate corporal punishment under RTE Act 2009 were much required, but somehow there is no protection for the teachers. What if a simple effort by a teacher to bring misbehaviour of the student to the notice of the parents is misconstrued as negative and the student is unable to handle it productively? A good, willing and hard working teacher will be in hot soup.
Taking into consideration the increasing dropout rate of youngsters from the school, increasing rate of children resorting to drug abuse owing to a lot of stress and increasing suicide rate, we desperately need these guidelines to be implemented effectively. But, these guidelines cannot work if parents and students are not made effective and active stakeholders in the process. Parents and children need to know about their rights in an appropriate way. These rules are there to help everyone raise physically and mentally fit children.
REFERENCE:http://www.progressiveteacher.in/corporal-punishment/
