Some of us remember the uproar in the media about the beating one of the Slumdog Millionaire child stars received from his father. And then it all went quiet.
Children and servants in India are often at the receiving end of physical violence, in the form of slapping or beating, from adults who hold power over them. These adults include teachers, masters and mistresses, and sadly, some parents.
It is not uncommon in India to see a minor car crash, followed by the two drivers getting out of their cars to assess the damage. If both drivers are sahibs or owners of the cars, rude words follow but then things are settled. If one driver is a sahib, and the other merely someone’s employee-driver, the latter almost always gets a slap and a few choicest, abusive epithets about his mother or his sister. Mind you, the person slapping (slapper?) is a complete stranger to the person being slapped, but that doesn’t seem to bother the slapper in the least. The sahib presumes a superior power position and acts accordingly. Unfortunately, the employee-driver doesn’t always presume his right to self-defence or even offence-as-defence.
Likewise with children. Indians who were in school during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were commonly beaten up as part of the disciplining process. Note I did not say “slapped”, I said “beaten”. I have heard of and seen the sharp edge of rulers, canes, and once a blackboard duster, being used to discipline some boys in a manner totally out of proportion with their mischief or misdemeanour. I particularly remember two teachers mainly for their violence towards students; one used his hands on the faces of 10-15 year olds while the other’s favourite tool was his ruler. I also remember noticing that the same boys and girls were repeatedly punished in many ways, including being asked to stand on a bench for the entire day, or being asked to kneel down for hours outside the classroom or worse, in front of the school assembly. Clearly violence-as-disciplining wasn’t very effective! While I made much mischief, I never got caught and my strong academic performance, a big “character reference” in India then and I suppose even now, made sure I never got punished. Clearly the threat of violence was also no deterrent for the determined.
This morning, I heard how an 11 year old child, who has just gone to live in India for a short while, was slapped by his teacher. The child comes from a very different culture. To him, this idea of disciplining is alien. When I heard I felt instantly livid and embarrassed. It seemed the barbarism is alive and kicking, and now we are passing it on to our children. So much for India Shining!
I decided to probe further. I asked this question of Indian users on Twitter:
Has your child been caned/ slapped by a teacher? What was your response?
I also asked some Indian friends the same question by email, and sought to clarify the legal position on the matter.
Now these are no scientific surveys of opinions and attitudes, but it was an interesting exercise. The answers were variable, as expected (the ages are my guesses based on my interactions with some respondents). Those in their late 20s and early 30s, who do or do not have kids, took strong exception to the possibility of their child being physically disciplined at school. Most of the DMs (direct messages which are not in the public stream) came from mothers who protested against such slapping etc; they report being told variously by the school to take their child elsewhere or finding their other children expelled or disciplined, as if to make a point. There was also a disappointing chorus from men and women alike to the effect: “We got beaten too, we turned out ok, didn’t we? Why this fuss then?”. Why disappointing? Because this sounds like a defence of the practice as if there is some kind of licence in perpetuity for slappings and beatings to continue. Oh, and it is not a school-specific issue. Some of India’s best known schools were mentioned as being the purveyors of such beatings!
The legal framework disallows the use of beatings/ physical punishment as a method of disciplining. But it seems to be deterring few teachers and school principals! (Ed. note, added Feb 5th, 2010, the source is a barrister friend in India: Rule 37 of the Delhi School Establishment Rules was held as unconstitutional by the Delhi HC in 2001. This was the provision that permitted corporal punishment as a permissible form of punishment for extreme indiscipline. Incidentally, even the old Rule 37 authorised only the Principal/Head to mete out corporal punishment. That too in narrow circumstances. The Rule also took into account the possibility that a cane may be used to dispense corporal punishment. If a cane is used, it must be limited to 10 strokes on the palm and nowhere else.) One has to wonder who dreams up and drafts this sort of precision in cruelty!
Most interesting has been the high volume of messages that suggested that parents really should not do anything such as trying to escalate the matter, or take the school to task otherwise. Why? Because almost certainly the child will be ostracised, or otherwise made to feel humiliated in the school, or worse, will be expelled altogether. The story – as stories do in India – will get around and the parents won’t be able to secure any place for their child.
The issue therefore boils down to the same old: the school has power over the student and by extension, the parents; the teacher has power over the student and doesn’t hesitate to use it and slaps and beats the student; the parents keep quiet for fear of blowing up the situation; the teacher continues unchastised; the school continues to mouth clichés with nary a dent to their reputation.
If the behaviour goes unchallenged, what is the message to the child?
That violence, especially if you are the powerful one and hence the perpetrator, is acceptable as a problem solving method?
That violence is tolerable, because you have to keep your eye on the big picture (such as staying in school)?
That violence is valid to use against those powerless against you?
Excellent and consistent message, I think. Institutionalising such violence is a proven way to ensure we turn out generations of the same solid characters that people now in their 30s, 40s, and 50s turned out to be, thanks to all that slapping and beating and kneeling down.
One thing is also certain. That way we keep these servants in their place. The drivers – and perhaps domestic maids and servants in India – can happily look forward to years of beatings at the hands of their masters and mistressed, thus educated. They too should look at the big picture. At least they have jobs.
PS: I was struggling to find a good, catchy title for this post. In the end I settled for what this is about. Please do not offer Victorian explanations (we are in the 21st century!) or “it also happens in other countries, why are you singling out India again?”. I don’t care about other countries. Besides, are we lemmings that we must follow every one else off a steep hill’s cliff?
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As a side-note, in the past year or so, several instances of politicians slapping office clerks and other staff, behaving rudely with police constables doing their duty, etc. have been highlighted in the TV media. Because of the institutionalization that you correctly describe, these politicians have never faced any punitive actions as a result of their behavior.
It would seem that the only way many of the said adults can reconcile with their own pasts and justify their parents/teachers’ violence towards them is by passing on the violence to the next gen & keeping the power imbalance alive. If they only recognized the problem in this system, they could possibly seek remedy for their behaviour. However, many desis hold great pride in the fact that their kids are not ‘mollycoddled’ like in other Western cultures and that they instil /discipline/ in kids. That they cannot differentiate between discipline and fear of physical violence is another matter altogether.
I can’t believe that this still goes on in some places because there is such a stigma against it in the Western world. My dad recalls being beaten regularly with a ruler, etc. as a child in the Soviet Union and once, when he was 11, he punched the teacher, a woman, in return as a result of being so angry about it. Needless to say, not very effective. Did girls get beaten up, too, when you were in school?
Few days back in a PTA, I heard a teacher tell how a child had a gash, cried to the teacher about dad beating him. Sad.
(Ed. note: Aashish contributed more on this debate on Twitter. They were good points so links added here: On how some parents ask for their kids to be beaten in the school: “Finally the irony is that some parents are ok with teachers beating. I heard some asking for it in last PTA! That’s sad.” and on what might work: “One way is collective negotiation. I observe that in Indian school power of number works. And “threat” of bad publicity.”)
The disciplining of children was a common occurrence in the ex-Soviet countries as little as 20 years ago. It may still go on for all I know, although it must be said that now such behaviour is at least frowned upon by the government – at least in my native Romania. The parents who know better and are vocal about this issue don’t seem to hurt either. But I’m sure that especially in the rural parts of the country there are still classrooms where children are being disciplined the old-fashioned way. Old habits die hard and all that.
Never forget, physical violence is not the only form of violence that is damaging to the child. I’ve heard this from a lot of children that experienced their parents’ divorce at a tender age, and that is by far the most frightful and scarring experience they had in their childhood. If we’re talking strictly about schools. it is my belief a teacher without scruples can do considerable more harm by humiliating a child in front of the class than by applying a corporal punishment. Children can be unforgiving and cruel (some psychologists even go as far as calling them sociopathic), and it is unwise to say the least for the teacher to point them towards a target. So the power (and responsibility) of a teacher does not reside only in his ability to refrain from using the strap. There’s a world of difference between someone who teaches to you and someone who teaches at you.
On a slightly unrelated note, I am about to visit India for the first time, so I am very curious to see how it does compare with the Eastern European culture in which I was born and bred, on the one hand, and the Western Protestant culture of the Netherlands, on the other. I’m sure it’s going to be an experience.
I say this as a parent – there is no logical, economic or moral justification for bringing a child into this world. Your control over what happens to your child pretty much ends with what choice of multi-vitamin to eat during the pregnancy. There are countries that are better or worse, but there is probably no country that deserves the gift of a new child.
“There was also a disappointing chorus from men and women alike to the effect: “We got beaten too, we turned out ok, didn’t we? Why this fuss then?”. Why disappointing?”
This is often heard on many blogs and there is also an e-mail forward about nostalgic 80s where it is mentioned that people ate mud, got beaten up, did this and that and still turned okay. So that makes everything done back then okay.
I grew up in India and I have seen fellow students getting slapped and beaten up in school (throwing dusters too). That is the only known way of disciplining even now in many schools and households. Just few months back, there was an incident of death of a student after teacher beat her black and blue.
I have a Kindergartener and she grows up in the US so never had to witness any such situation. Of course I would never support that kind of disciplining if she were in India. In India, sometimes even the nursery teacher behaves so sternly with a 3 year old that the kid fears school.
People abuse/slap/beat those who are weaker than them. That is why babus beat servants, madams slap maids, kids get beaten up. They very well know when to control their anger if the other person is their equal.
While the talk here is about parents/teachers disciplining their kids by using physical violence and beating. I think the one I have seen affecting grownups is physical violence in Colleges during “ragging”. A grown up, who is out of a secure atmosphere for the first time, is beaten to pulp just for the heck of it. I still cannot understand how someone can do that to somebody just a year or two younger and who will be a colleague. Irrespective, very shocking this – as it continues for some of them all through life. Wife beaters then I assume?
All this beating and slapping is just another form of showing ‘who’s boss’. I have grown up in India and have seen the same done to so many of my classmates. And yes, students with a good academic record are spared.
Having said that – there is no way I would tolerate the same treatment for my daughter. Right now, my daughter is in nursery in the UK and the clear difference is visible. Some of friends whose children were in India and have then come here, say that children are much happier and better adjusted at school because they are not constantly terrorized. And the thing is, that in schools, it is not just the physical beatings or slapping. In India, a lot of teachers are also extremely rude and mean to children. My friend’s daughter was criticized because she was not able to spell – and she was just a four year old.
‘There was also a disappointing chorus from men and women alike to the effect: “We got beaten too, we turned out ok, didn’t we? Why this fuss then?”’ That is indeed disappointing! I want my child to enjoy school and flourish in the environment rather than be scared of school and teachers. I so wish people would not justify it by hiding behind ‘We got beaten too, we turned out ok, didn’t we?’!
I’d like to play devil’s advocate here. Violence, of any sort, is wrong- thats a given. But what do you do when the child knows that he’s got nothing to be afraid of? I’ve heard of many teachers complaining ( my mom being one of them) that a ban on corporal punishment has been extended to a ban on any sort of reprimand, even verbal. Children (some not all) have “gotten smarter” and are very well aware of how to extend the truth resulting in a showdown between parents and teachers. Teachers, in an effort to avoid such a confrontation, start ignoring kids or passing them just to make it someone else’s problem. What do you do in such a case? Obviously, “beating” someone up is not a solution but whats the alternative?
That violence is valid to use against those powerless against you?
And in this one line of yours lies the crux of the whole matter. Its not about beating/caning/violence. It’s about that momentary feeling of power , the high it gives to bullies who do this. And have no doubts that they are bullies and nothing else.
Witness the man who nonchalantly steps out of his car (he could also be a on a two wheeler but chances are more in India that he would be in a car) and slaps the rickshaw wallah who ‘dared’ to brush against his car. The sheer gall of the fellow! The very notion! How dare he go against the sahib?
Would he do it against another car driver? Fists would fly maybe..but an outright slap? I doubt it. Also another sahib’s driver might get the same slap unless of course the sahib’s driver has also imbibed some of that ‘power’ in sahib’s absence and feels like taking on this other slap happy sahib.
This violence is part of our great Indian ‘culture’. It’s all around us and it’s justified by people who have grown up with it.
School? Corporal Punishment? (ah! what a propah sounding word for something so disgusting) Merely a manifestation of the great Indian dysfunctional family.
I can merely say WTH!
@Ayan Majumdar
I am a teacher and yes I was with an institute where it was a free for all for parents…the teachers had little or no say in matters involving the students. And this is one of the ‘posh’ schools of Delhi I am talking about. The students knew exactly what to say that would get teachers into ‘trouble’ Even verbal reprimands were taken seriously(and sometimes they had to be what with some truly ‘great’ teachers calling students idiots and morons and such)
But you know what?
Give me this ‘ban on any sort of reprimand ‘ anytime rather than the ugly corporal punishment.
The reason parents and students (and teachers) are grappling with this issue is because its new for them. They don’t know any other way to deal with disciplinary issues. Because they dont know any better. But give them time and they will. Right now people like the ones above who have gleefully advocated corporal punishment are baffled about how to deal with this freedom for their kids.
Children grow up just fine without violence and turn out to be perfectly decent human beings.
Have no fear.
And it is violence no matter what fancy words we might wrap it up in.
I read everywhere about ‘don’t hit kids’ but nowhere about the ways to control rowdies .. why are there no books on the art of classroom control .. few teachers have that skill of controlling entire classrooms with their personality and the heavy beating psychos are also a small minority whose indiscretions has led to the reduction of stick on bum release for most teachers ..
As we get rich and ‘develop’ this school children beating thing will get further talked down.. it all sounds very civilized and really you can’t argue for the beatings other than saying ‘i was beaten i am ok’ .. but then you see in western media many classes out of control so i wonder if the ‘get out of class’ ‘detention’ thingy works .. try doing that in a government school in india, the kid will happily leave the school for the day .. so then how to control the really evil kids?? make those little buggers write lines full day, give fifth standard students shakespeare to memorise as punishment or what about implementing a punishment where they have to sweep the classrooms .. ah, if only the teachers had a little bit more imagination they could torment the kids in such a harmless manner that they would beg for a whack.. now i need to join some fancy shancy school and implement nervous breadowns ..
This post reminded me of a news report of an incident when Naseeruddin Shah, by all accounts a very respectable and genteel person, slapped a security guard because he stopped him from entering some place. As you said, violence as a way of dealing with “inferiors” is common in India. In my school too teachers used to routinely slap students and also punishments were horrific. I was in a convent school and the punishments were actually worse than a simple slap! Like missing out on end of the year plays, or being humiliated in front of the whole school.
Parents too routinely hit their children. It’s considered normal.
Just the other day in Mumbai in an incident of road rage a man caught a man by his collar and then dragged him along the road. The man died.
Overall our society has become very violent. Or it was always violent. Violence is always seen as a solution, even in the movies. I think it is going to take time for civil society to raise its head here. And it should start in school with teachers and parents.
Violence in any hierarchy must be tempered with judgement and wisdom. And both judgement and wisdom are learnt skills. We learn them by watching others (experiential) and via education (cognition etc.)
Hitting a child is wrong at so many levels and is unpardonable. Whatever the reasons, whatever the circumstances, it is wrong. If only because it affects the future. Of the individual and of the collective. It must be stopped. We have to teach ourselves better manners, more self control (easy ones, if time consuming) and teach ourselves to separate our emotions (anger, frustration, need for control) from our actions.
As we educate ourselves, we are also the watchdogs, the whistle blowers.
So, when 5 Star bars advertise their new fruit and nut on television (in India), and the teacher slaps the chocolate sitting in the empty classroom, what do we do?
I wonder what children must feel when they get hit like this – bewildered, powerless. I wonder why humans, whether they are children or anyone, be treated with respect.
Sorry, forgot to add the word cannot before be treated with respect.
Power does not mean the right to vent one’s frustration on someone else.
Some teachers in school were bad. They were mentally unstable. I can’t be wrong. Why else did they pinch me in primary school? No, I was not one of those obnoxiously irritating brats. Some teachers(male and female) thought the class was the best place to give vent to their personal and professional anger.
An 8 or 9 year year old need not be treated like criminals. How bad can an 8 year old kid be? Not just me, many of us were chastised like this. No one complained.
Some of them pinched and drove their nails into our skins; some used canes. But, hey! you know what I did.
Some months back I went to school. These 3-4 teachers who were absolutely animal like were still in service. They had turned into sweet oldies now. I went and told them that they were extremely horrible and behaved unlike how teachers should have. Unbecoming of their profession. Was much relief to me when I spoke my heart out to these people.
Then I realize that these people had some problem or other in their lives. And we kids were at the receiving end. I am not talking about the many many super-awesome teachers that I had. Some were uber-good. This comment is only about the bad guys.
More examples of power misuse :
1) I have seen cops in Chennai slapping bikers
2) Cops in Bangalore spitting at auto drivers who jump the signal.
3) Cops in Bangalore reaching to slap traffic offenders(bikers)
-Nikhil