Corporal punishment not new in city

AHMEDABAD: In schools across the city, incidents of corporal punishment have been surfacing. In the current year alone, there were three major cases in which police cases were filed against school authorities, the last one being that of Milan Tanna, the only case where the victim died.
On September 12 this year, Class XI student Chetan Soni of Pravin Vidya Vihar in Odhav accused a teacher of having hit him so hard that he suffered temporary hearing loss in the right ear.His fault was that he had stepped on another student's answersheet which tore when the latter pulled it. Before slapping him, the accounts teacher had also made the student do two rounds of sit-ups
On July 22, Akhilesh Tiwari, 13, student of Vivekanand School in Amraiwadi, was beaten up by his school principal for going to private tuition classes rather than the ones run by the school. The beating had been a consistent act and the parents had also complained to the principal about it. Medical examination of Tiwari after the incident said that complication in his left ear drum was caused because of continuous slapping on his face.
R R Prajapati, parent of nine-year-old Chandrakant, who was subjected to corporal punishment last academic year in Om Shanti Primary School, CTM remembers, "I was horrified when I saw my child with a swollen ear, finger marks on the cheek and a black eye. I immediately took him to the school and the authorities assured that it would not happen again. But I logged a complaint with the district education officer, who sent a warning to the school. The teacher concerned was removed a day later."
In certain schools, principals regularly remind their teachers not to use physical punishments for students. Dhiraj Jogani, principal of M K High School, says, "Every three months we conduct meetings with the teachers and issue notices simply to bring to their notice the issue of corporal punishment." The authorities are asking teachers to involve the parents wherever disciplinary issues are concerned.
AHMEDABAD: In schools across the city, incidents of corporal punishment have been surfacing. In the current year alone, there were three major cases in which police cases were filed against school authorities, the last one being that of Milan Tanna, the only case where the victim died.
On September 12 this year, Class XI student Chetan Soni of Pravin Vidya Vihar in Odhav accused a teacher of having hit him so hard that he suffered temporary hearing loss in the right ear. His fault was that he had stepped on another student's answersheet which tore when the latter pulled it. Before slapping him, the accounts teacher had also made the student do two rounds of sit-ups
On July 22, Akhilesh Tiwari, 13, student of Vivekanand School in Amraiwadi, was beaten up by his school principal for going to private tuition classes rather than the ones run by the school. The beating had been a consistent act and the parents had also complained to the principal about it. Medical examination of Tiwari after the incident said that complication in his left ear drum was caused because of continuous slapping on his face.
R R Prajapati, parent of nine-year-old Chandrakant, who was subjected to corporal punishment last academic year in Om Shanti Primary School, CTM remembers, "I was horrified when I saw my child with a swollen ear, finger marks on the cheek and a black eye. I immediately took him to the school and the authorities assured that it would not happen again. But I logged a complaint with the district education officer, who sent a warning to the school. The teacher concerned was removed a day later."
In certain schools, principals regularly remind their teachers not to use physical punishments for students. Dhiraj Jogani, principal of M K High School, says, "Every three months we conduct meetings with the teachers and issue notices simply to bring to their notice the issue of corporal punishment." The authorities are asking teachers to involve the parents wherever disciplinary issues are concerned.
vasundhara.vyas@timesgroup.com