Corporal punishment: PTA defends school, teacher

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The controversy over corporal punishment inflicted on a ninth standard student of the LMS HSS, Amaravila, has taken a new turn with the school PTA coming out in defence of the school and the teacher accused of the cruelty. PTA officials said that the complaint lodged by the student and his parents was baseless and the issue had been blown out of proportion. The PTA also charged the student, Mithun Hari, with being a constant trouble-maker in school. In a press conference aimed as a reply to the controversy surrounding the school, the PTA president, Jayaraj, said that the controversy was baseless and the issue had been blown out of proportion.“The institution has sustained good discipline and an impressive success rate in examinations and this is a deliberate attempt to tarnish the good name of the school. The student in question has been a constant trouble-maker in the school for many years. He has been caught stealing money and mobile phones,” Jayaraj said. According to Jayaraj, the student caused infinite grievance to the students and authorities of the school. “Mithun Hari was seen physically harming a fellow student and a teacher separated the boys and punished the offender. This incident has been taken out of its context and blown out of proportion.” On June 20, the PTA of the school convened a general body meeting and resolved to stand with the concerned teacher. On why Mithun Hari had not been dismissed by the school if the student was such a miscreant as claimed, the PTA president responded that the student was allowed to continue on humanitarian considerations. However, the PTA had no answer to the questions by mediapersons as to why the school had shown no such humanitarian consideration when severely thrashing a fourteen-year-old who had two fractures on his left hand. The PTA team was pointedly asked why it had gravely flouted the Right to Education Act which clearly bans meting out corporal punishment to students or even harassing them mentally. However, the PTA stuck to its stance that the issue of discipline is an important one and the punishment meted out to the boy was just. The hospital to which Mithun was taken had certified that he had three contusions on his right thigh and two on his left, indicators of severe beating on the part of the teacher. They were also silent on why no teacher had volunteered to face the press and why the current delegation consisted purely of parents. Recently, the organisation Madhuram Balyam led by activist Philip M Prasad had announced agitations before the Secretariat pressing for action against the erring teacher.