07 September,2009 09:10 AM IST | | Manju Shettar and Nolan Pinto
Bangaloreans weigh in on corporal punishment
Is corporal punishment acceptable in our age and times?
Ports minister Palemar thinks it is all right to have it. Speaking at a Teacher's Day function in Mangalore, he claimed that at least in his case, it helped him "become a better individual."
MiD DAY spoke to a cross-section of Bangaloreans for their take on this issue.
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Agni Shridhar, filmmaker and activist
"It is not polite to do so and children should be taught by love. Fear can make them disciplined but they will not gain any knowledge. I think it should be banned in our education system".
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Sa Ra Govindu, Kannada activist
"Children should be taught with love or else they will not learn anything. There is a proper way to teach everything and this includes education and moral issues. Punishment is not the way to go. We must also find out from a teacher when these sort of punishments are handed out to students".
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K P Suresh, cultural organiser
"The minister still lives in the past. It seems like he does not know about contemporary concepts and the revolutionary developments in education. Politeness is a valuable method of teaching."
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Ramesh Aravind, actor
"I don't believe in this rude way and it is not good. Schoolteachers today do not do this. These days, children know about their rights and protest against the system themselves."
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Dr Darshan Shankar, founder director, Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions
"I saw to it that my children studied in a school which did not extol corporal punishment. As part of the declared policy of this school, it was against these sorts of punishments and it followed the principle of fun at school. As an observer, we need to talk to the school management if such a situation ever arises for one's children. When I was in school, I was punished but never told my parents. When we did something wrong, we accepted those punishments but always in a light way."
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Arthur D'Silva, retired banker
"Well, in some aspects children need to be punished but it all depends on how it is implemented. It should never be on the knuckles or if it would result in scars or bruises. A kid can be given a slight whack on the hand so that he or she remembers not to do a wrong later. Nobody has the right to beat a kid for whatever reason."
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Sangeeta Medappa, homemaker
"I really do not think anybody has the authority to commit such an act. I am lucky, my children never had to face such a situation and well, I too did not face it while in school. If it had ever taken place, I would have approached the school, had a meeting with all the parents and taken this issue to the higher authorities."
