BANGALORE: School teachers using canes and rulers to correct students showed the state government not doing enough to implement the guidelines issued by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to eliminate corporal punishment.
Chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) Nina P Nayak on Wednesday agreed that the state government had much more to do to end corporal punishments in schools.
Speaking to Express on the sidelines of a function here, she said: “The state will have to invest on teacher training to facilitate positive reinforcement. The way teachers approach children in schools has to be corrected. The last time I went to a few schools, I observed that a majority of teachers would not show up and one teacher is left to handle all the classes.” She further narrated an instance from a school in Chikkaballapur, where the class teacher was brandishing a cane while taking class.
“I asked the teacher to first throw the cane away. But what is the alternative to the cane? This is where the state government comes in,” added Nayak.
She also cited the absence of a nodal agency for implementing the NCPCR guidelines as the reason for recurring instances of physical abuse being meted out to children.
“We do get many cases of corporal punishment. Technically, we are the appealing agency when it comes to such cases. However, it would be wrong to call KSCPCR as the nodal agency for eliminating corporal punishment, as we are a little weak in many ways,” she said.
She added that the KSCPCR was working closely with the state departments to end corporal punishment. “There is no doubt that corporal punishment has to go,” she said.
Commenting on Monday’s episode of a father forcing his 13-year old daughter to beg on the streets for lacking interest in studies, Nayak said the KSCPCR was focusing on health support at first.
“Providing support to the girl’s health is our first priority. The father has taken an extreme step, and we have asked the Child Welfare Committee to see if there’s an extended family. We have to make sure that a guardian is arranged for the girl,” said Nayak.