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Prank and punishment
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It looks like we are still fixated on the spare-the-rod-and-spoil-the-child dictum
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When at a meet parents were asked whether students should be punished, more than 100 raised their hands
When Purandara, a Class 9 student of the Government School in Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, filed a police complaint against his acting principal for beating him with a stick, he got hit further — the principal took legal action under Section 95 of the Indian Penal Code. The Karnataka High Court ruled that punishing a child in good faith could not be construed as an offence.
Is the old saying "Spare the rod and spoil the child" still valid? Should we beat our children every time they do something wrong? "Children are not criminals," asserts Chenraj Jain, Chairman of the Jain Group of Institutions that includes Jain Vidyaniketan, the free school for rural children. "Some children may be disturbed, and may cause problems. But 95 per cent of these children can be brought around with care and affection, and only five per cent may require the assistance of behavioural therapists," he adds. "Corporal punishment is just not the answer to inculcate discipline."
Arkesh, a Class 5 student of a local government school, refuses to go to school because he says his teachers beat him regularly. His classmate Ashok of the shining eyes rushes to the same school every day because he enjoys the atmosphere there. "Arkesh misbehaves in class so much that we all get disturbed. The teachers plead with him to behave properly, but when he does not do it, they beat him a little," reveals Ashok.
How can a teacher handle a class of 60 students, at least 10 of whom regularly interrupt the smooth flow of lessons? "Punishment is necessary to reinforce to the child that she cannot get away with behaving in a way outside the set parameters. But corporal punishment in our schools is a strict no-no," clarifies Shukla Bose, Director of Parikrama Learning Centres, the schools for slum children. "Our children come from families where they are already severely physically abused. Hitting them by way of punishment is hardly going to get results. I'm always looking at the result that we expect from punishment. At first we used to ask `extreme' children to stay back in school after class and clean the rooms. The kids started liking this! Then we had to think of innovative punishment. Since the kids love our art classes, when we think a child requires punishment we ask her to study a subject she most dislikes instead of attending art class," adds Shukla. "Fear of punishment inhibits the learning process. We only want the children to feel remorse, not fear."
What should be the result of punishment? Is a temporary return to passivity enough of a result to cane a boisterous child? Or should the result be a permanent and magical transformation of a `bad' child into a `good' child? At the parents' meet following the students' workshop conducted by Bharath Chandra recently, he asked the assembled parents whether students should be punished. More than 100 parents raised their hands! Only a handful said they were against corporal punishment. "Punishment or no punishment? A mixture may be effective," said the trainer and Chairman of Winners Institute who has successfully uses behavioural therapy to help people to bring out the best within themselves.
Human rights activists are clearer in their choice. "No corporal punishment," they say. Adds Shukla Bose: "Corporal punishment is an invasion of the child's privacy." Psychologists speak of reinforcements. Slapping a child for scribbling off-colour graffiti on the blackboard is negative reinforcement. Rewarding him for keeping the blackboard clean is positive reinforcement. Author Karen Pryor in her book Don't Shoot the Dog! says that using the laws of reinforcement and training can get any desired result — like how to get the cat off the kitchen table, or your grandmother to stop nagging. Educators too are trained to use positive reinforcement to correct a difficult child. And as for our dog, no one slapped him when, as a pup, he chewed up the kids' school socks. Today, when he feels like having a snack, he finds a sock, and lays it gently in front of us!
MALA KUMAR
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