Teacher Forces Kid to Drink Urine

By Uzma Shaikh

Corporal Punishment In City Schools Takes Ugly Turn

Whoever said 'spare the rod, and spoil the child’ couldn't have imagined this. Now despicable behaviour of teachers 'punishing' students for indisipline is amounting to gross violation of human rights. Consider this. On December 4, a class II student of a private school at Warasiguda in Secunderabad, was reportedly made to drink his own urine by his teacher. The little student's crime? He passed urine in the class. Though the teacher was suspended immediately by the school management, a police case was not registered as the parents insisted that the matter should not be made public.

In another incident, a student of a reputed public school in Banjara Hills was made to stand on the bench for more than an hour that resulted in his fainting in the class. The matter was taken to the Andhra Pradesh Human State Human Rights Commission (APSHRC) and got resolved with the suspension of the teacher. The parents, however, did not press charges against the teacher.

"In most of the cases parents do not complain to the police and are not interested in registering a case. Sometimes, students organisations take up the issue," additional commissioner of police (crimes), K Narsimha Reddy told HNN.

These kind of punishments are way beyond corporal punishment - which is of a physical nature - and could leave a permanent scar on the psyche of the victim. Though teachers are not supposed to subject students to corporal punishment, it is nevertheless happening. In fact, police registered as many as five cases in the academic year 2007-08 on the matter as corporal punishment is punishable under IPC section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means).

Students of various city schools too complained that corporal punishment was common. "Teachers pinch and beat but students suffer silently," Nafisa Ahmed, a student of a school at Begumpet said. Some students said teachers are reluctant to do away with corporal punishment as this is the most convenient way to discipline erring students.

"In the parent teachers association (PTA) meetings, some parents point out that students do complain about being pinched, made to stand on the bench and beaten on the knuckles. Ironically, teachers ask us to tell them other methods to discipline the students," a concerned parent, Jenifer Penta rued.

School managements, however, said they have decided to do away with corporal punishment and have devised other methods of disciplining. "We tell our teachers that if they physically punish a child they will be removed from their jobs. The school is very strict about such things. There are other methods of disciplining the child and perhaps a little bit of talking to him or her will do," Meridian school, Banjara Hills principal, Usha Reddy said.