Edu Bill Bans Mental Harassment Of Students
Shruthi Balakrishna and Darinia Khongwir | TNN
The Bill, available with TOI, states that whoever is found guilty would be liable to disciplinary action under the service rules applicable to that person.
Although most schools maintain that they have banned corporal punishment, they also say there was no clear definition of corporal punishment or mental harassment, and that each institution had devised its own ways to ‘discipline’ students. With the passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha, the HRD ministry is expected to define mental harassment, too.
“Anything can be termed mental harassment. We need to bring children under some discipline as well. Teachers in our school first advise the students; a few times we warn them. In extreme cases, we inform the parents,’’ said Princess Franklyn, principal, Bishop Cotton Girls’ High School.With the inclusion of mental harassment in the law, schools hope that the HRD ministry will define it. Else, they fear it could be misused by parents or schools themselves.
Schools have come out with innovative methods like community service and mentoring to discipline the children without using cane or harsh words. At Indus International School, they follow a structured community programme where children are motivated to involve in such programmes. “They learn empathy and love through this programme besides learning other human values,” said school principal Sarojini Rao. She said that the mentoring programme was initiated where a team of seven students headed by a teacher counsel the child. “It need not have to be a subject teacher. They help children think about transforming one’s life,’’ she added.
The Delhi Public School (DPS) has a different way to handle the naughty ones. They allot an hour for children called “golden moments’’. “It can range from anything to games or a library period. When a student needs to be disciplined, he would be denied that golden period,’’ said Chitra Sharma, head mistress of the school.
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