Again an incident of corporal punishment has surfaced. In Odisha’s tribal-dominated Nabarangpur district, seven primary school students were beaten up so viciously by a teacher for not being able to spell a word and give its correct meaning, that they had to be hospitalised.
What Happened?
On July 26, the teacher, Jayantibala Bhatra, asked the meaning of a word to the third standard students in the government-run Murtuma Sevashram school in Umerkote, about 500 km Southwest of Bhubaneswar. When seven of the students could not pronounce the word, she began beating them up. She even thrashed them with a stick.
The children suffered bruises on their hands and back. While five of the students who stayed in the hostel were asked not to talk about the incident, the two other students living in a local village informed their parent about the beating.
Block Education Officer Bikash Chandra Sarkar said that then five of the students were admitted to the community health center of Umerkote by the hostel superintendent.
“All schools have been declared as punishment-free zones. I have ordered a probe into the incident,” Hindustan Times quoted Sarkar as saying.
Ever since the matter came to light, the teacher has been absconding.
Following several allegations of teachers beating up students, Odisha banned corporal punishment in schools in 2004 and said that such teachers would have to face severe disciplinary action against them.
Despite this, several incidents of corporal punishment have come to light, including one in which an 11-year-old student in Bargarh district died after a teacher beat him on his chest. The teacher also asked seven other students to beat him up.
It is shameful how children are not safe at school, a place where they are supposed to grow up learning the difference between good and evil. The Logical Indian urges authorities to take strict action against the guilty.
