Pitai ki pathshala

Updated On: 24 April, 2009 02:28 PM IST | | Amit Singh

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Beaten by bamboo canes, forced to collect garbage and made to kneel for hours in the summer heat... We are not talking Guantanamo Bay here but routine corporal punishment that is meted out to students of Delhi's government schools. Amit Singh finds out that even after Shanno's death, nothing has changed

At the Senior Secondary Government School, Malviya Nagar, students are rarely ever late. This show of discipline at the government-run school doesn't stem from the students' love for education, but because they fear the punishment for this "crime". Students allege that even if they are late by five minutes, teachers make them collect garbage from the entire campus.

Child psychologists may scream "exploitation" but at most of Delhi's government-funded schools, corporal punishment is a norm. The teachers at these schools do not seem to have learnt any lesson from the death of 11-year-old Shanno, who allegedly collapsed after her teacher forced her to stand in the summer heat for several hours.

"Beatings and other types of physical punishment are common in our school. Students are beaten up by teachers with thin bamboo canes, specially sharpened for hurting the most. From failing to read from textbooks to not bringing notebooks to school, students are severely punished for every small crime," said Suresh Kumar (name changed because he feared being thrashed by his teachers if found complaining), a Class XII student at the Senior Secondary Government School, Malviya Nagar.

"If we are late to school, teachers make us collect garbage from the campus. It's a back-breaking and dirty task," said a student of Class VIII.

However, despite several attempts, Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Delhi Education Secretary Rina Ray couldn't not be contacted for their comments on the subject.

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