The Hindu : Front Page : Corporal punishment required: Horatti

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Thursday, Sep 06, 2007
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Corporal punishment required: Horatti

Special Correspondent

Minister says ban may encourage indiscipline among students

GULBARGA: Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj S. Horatti has said that he is not in favour of a total ban on teachers punishing erring students because it could encourage indiscipline among students.

He was speaking at the Teachers’ Day celebrations here on Wednesday after distributing State-level Best Teacher Awards to primary and high school teachers. Mr. Horatti said that although he was opposed to corporal punishment, not allowing teachers to punish children, when required, would only lead to chaos and indiscipline in schools.

“Teachers should change with the times and refrain from imposing harsh punishment on students. They should adopt other methods to discipline students,” he said.

Mr. Horatti said he knew that his statement would kick up a controversy. His intention was that the interests of both teachers and students should not be affected by preventing teachers from punishing students.

The Minister said teachers should treat their students with affection and respect, and even if some student commits a mistake, excessive punishment, particularly corporal punishment, should be avoided.

Mr. Horatti warned that if corporal punishment was banned, no teacher would take responsibility for the academic performance of students. Discipline would be the first casualty.

He said that the issue of corporal punishment was a sensitive one, and both the teaching community and society should behave responsibly in the overall interests of students.

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