Moreover, he also used his hands and legs to burn his wrath,” shares Atul (name changed for privacy), a recent A-level graduate from Xavier International College.[break]
He expressed how the incident was a chaos as the teacher hit them brutally which brought undesirable repercussions like most of them being welted and bruised, one whose head was bleeding heavily, and as a result of which they had to undergo medications.
“I didn’t think it was a decent way of dealing with the situation. I admit that our behavior was unruly, but we did not deserve to be treated like that. Instead of learning the lesson, we had a strong desire to retaliate,” adds he.
Corporal punishment is practiced in some institutions of Kathmandu as an effective way of educating and developing moral characters in students because they believe that it will change the impulsive behaviors into controlled and purposeful ones.
“Some children these days indulge themselves in socially unacceptable practices like smoking marijuana, coming to school drunk and harass everybody, even the teachers, thinking that they’re invincible. Being a part of the educational institution, I have to ensure that they’re disciplined so I try explaining to them that certain things are not acceptable inside the premises; give them other chances to improve,” shares Sobindra Ghale, discipline in charge of Xavier International College.
He adds that there have been times when the explaining alone has not worked and their parents had to be called but to no avail leaving them with no choice but to punish them physically.
On the other hand, many schools, students and their parents condemn the notion of practicing corporal punishment as they feel that it discourages creative and imaginative learning, and instead of instilling responsibilities in the young minds, it reinforces rebellion, revenge and resentment.
“There was this one time when I paraphrased whatever my English teacher had dictated so that I could make my answers different and creative but then I got scathing remarks that if I was so confident, I should stay at home and got hit by a steel ruler 10 times,” sighs Rajan (also named changed), a grade eight student at Molding Minds Higher Secondary School.
He echoed that from that day on, he lost the courage to express things in his own words, and he slavishly copies whatever is written in the book or what his teachers lecture.
“We admitted our seven year old daughter to United School because of its excellent brand image. But, to my dismay, she used to come back home whining everyday about how she got hit by her teacher with a pipe. Therefore, I transferred her to another school around the locality,” informs Manish (also name changed), father of Sabrina Shrestha.
Shrestha confesses that his daughter is a little notorious like other kids of her age, but he is against the concept of corporal punishment as they learn to grow to be rebellious and learn that violence is the manifestation of ingraining things into somebody’s mind.
Manisha Shrestha, teacher at Malpi International School, tells how the management at Malpi completely abhors corporal punishment as it’s against the law and also because they believe that it brings nothing but resentment and hatred towards the other party.
Sister Margaret Mary, former principal of St. Mary’s High School, explains that they condemn corporal punishment because it causes pain, and feels that education can only be effectively disseminated if it’s made enjoyable, not painful.
“We create a loving and caring environment for learning at St Mary’s. There are some unacceptable behaviors by students that we’ve come across, and we’ve solved them through counseling and guidance,” she says.
Infliction of pain through spanking, caning and other forms of corporal punishment is a threat to the healthy development and welfare of the children and an undesirable way to impart education and might lead to the person becoming hostile and rebellious in the future as a result of frustration.
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