Activists say that the rising cases of harassment, physical torture and abuse of children in schools indicate that it is essential for teachers to attend workshops and learn the difference between child abuse and discipline.
Police, in 2012, recorded 600 cases of corporal punishment, but the figure has already crossed 500 this year with five more months to go. Last week, an 11-year-old boy set himself ablaze after he was reportedly humiliated and beaten up by the principal in a school located in posh Banjara Hills in the heart of the city.
The student succumbed to his injuries and the school said they had never assessed the state of mind of the student, while imparting punishment.
In another shocking incident, a class IV student of a private school in Karimnagar district committed suicide after constant taunts and punishment from his school warden for not attending his classes.
A few months ago, a three-year-old student was threatened with a pen knife by a teacher. The parents immediately took the child out of the school and, despite the counseling session the school conducted, the boy continued to struggle with mental trauma.
"He does not want to go to school anymore and is scared even looking at objects like pen knives," said the father of the child.
A survey conducted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) across seven states, including Andhra Pradesh, showed that 99.86% of the 6,632 children surveyed had experienced some kind of stern punishment in school.
The NCPCR survey done in 2011 also showed that 75% of them had been hit by a cane and 69% were slapped on the cheek.
The Andhra Pradesh Parents Association (APPA) says nothing has changed since then, while A Subba Reddy, the district education officer, Hyderabad, admitted that there had been a steady inflow of complaints coming in.
"We will first conduct an inquiry and then issue show cause notices to the management of the school. In case necessary action is not taken, these schools stand to lose recognition," he said.
Shanth Kumar Goel, president of APPA, says they receive at least a dozen complaints every week from parents across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
"Every teacher must undergo training on how to tackle children, however problematic they may be," he said, adding that teachers in most schools are not taught how to deal with small children, who are the main victims of corporal punishment.
"The school authorities, including the principal, must be aware at all times how the students are being treated by their teachers," he added. Sections 16 and 17 of the Right to Education Act (RTE) bans corporal punishment, both mental and physical, or expulsion from school.
"The teachers are unaware of the implication of the punishment they inflict, both legally as well as psychologically, on the child. Counselling a child after the incident is not enough," said Achyuta Rao, president of AP Balala Hakkula Sangham, a child rights body. "The school management as well as parents must be counselled before the child is sent to school."
Srivyal Vuyyuri, working with child-centric NGO Sphoorti, recalled an incident where girl students in a school were made to strip on pretext of being checked for a stolen object.
"The girls were so ashamed by the incident that they did not even speak about it to anyone. It is only when other kids started talking that we found out about the incident," Vuyyuri said.
"Teachers nowadays are just not sensitized towards gender issues. And this is the case in so called elite schools as well," he added.
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