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Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008
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School punishment floors students

Chitra V. Ramani

The reason is that their parents did not attend the parent-teacher meeting

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Huddling together: Students of Camlin English School at R.P.C. Layout in Bangalore ‘waiting for their transport’ to return home on Tuesday.

Bangalore: More than 20 children studying in the government-recognised Camlin English School here were made to sit on the draughty basement floor away from the classroom for around eight hours on Monday. The fault: their parents did not attend the parent-teacher meeting in the school on Saturday.

When this reporter visited the school, around 20 children were squatting on the basement floor. When asked, the school management claimed that these children were not being punished. Instead, “they are just waiting for the school van to pick them up,” the school secretary said.

However, L. Bhaskar, a parent, told The Hindu that the school had indeed punished his son by making him sit on the basement floor from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday. “When I got to know, I was shocked. My son pleaded with me to not take it up with the headmistress, but I could not let it go like that. I came to the school in the morning and found more children sitting on the floor,” he said.

“We take all steps to take good care of our children. We ensure they are dressed warm, have all their books, are comfortable and then send them to school. Here they make them sit on the floor in such bad weather. It is windy and cold and the place they are made to sit resembles a dumping yard,” said L. Jagadish, another parent.

He said that students should not be punished for their parents’ lapses. “Let the school send us a notice, we will reply to it. They cannot punish children instead,” he said.

Mr. Bhaskar said that Kishen, young director of the acclaimed film, C/o Footpath, is also a student of the school.

“He does not attend school for days. Yet, lessons and notes somehow seem to reach him. Our children attend school diligently and get punished for no fault of theirs,” he added. By way of an explanation, headmistress H.P. Vijaya said that the children were not punished, but were only asked to sit in the open auditorium. The school had issued a memo to all parents a week before the meeting and attendance was compulsory.

“We have stated this even in the school diary. Pupils will not be permitted to enter the class if their progress reports are not collected. Students will also be marked absent (if the parents don’t come),” she said. So what about Kishen to whom the rules do not seem to apply? She riposted: “He has earned a name for himself. He has created a world record. What has his (Mr. Bhaskar’s) son achieved?”

Niranjan Aradhya, member of the Working Group on Corporal Punishment for Children constituted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said this incident was a violation of legal protection provided to a child.

“The law says a child should be educated in a fear-free environment. The so-called quality of education often advocated by private schools should not be at the cost of a child’s fundamental right to dignity. The Government should take action against the school,” he added.

The parents have sought legal advice.

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