It took the hanging of a X Standard student of a private school in Chennai to scrap corporal punishment. That corporal punishment in one form or another has been around in schools for centuries is common knowledge. It has been an accepted disciplinary method in homes as well as schools. The 16-year-old by was allegedly hit on his check by one of his teachers in such a way that it left a tell-tale mark. Ashamed to face his fellow-students, the boy committed suicide. The Convention on Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly to which India was a party, asks governments to take all measures to ensure that school discipline is maintained in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity, but Tamil Nadu Education Rules 51 authorised corporal punishment. A committee set up by the state government to revise the outdated rules has recommended that every child be given an opportunity to learn from error of his/her ways through corrective measures. “The school shall not cause mental and physical pain to the child”, it said.

Along with revising Education Rules, government should also review the entire education system. Dominated by grades and competition, students are forced to cram for examinations. Not only schools, even some colleges in Tamil Nadu indulge in corporal punishment. Teaching is not exactly the best paid profession in the country. Often it attracts people who fail to find other jobs and they tend to take out their frustrations on hapless students. Coeducation is frowned upon in higher secondary schools. Researchers say rigid separation of sexes is not the best way to develop personality. It is about time government finds better, more effective ways of charting students’ progress.

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