No stick but its also not carrots all the way

Updated on: Thursday, January 12, 2012

Pinky sat with a puffed up face as tear drops smudged the pages of her maths notebook. She sat tight-lipped, fidgeting with her pencil and sharpener in the first bench of class 3A. Her non-stop giggles and endless chatting made the class teacher change her seat. For the little one, losing her favourite seat was worse than a beating or scolding!

Now that most schools have bid adieu to corporal punishment, how do they control the naughty ones? What are the new methods of punishment?

Rakhee Verma, a friendly teacher of Christ Nagar School in Thiruvananthapuram, is not in favour of punishments. “I have nearly 50 six year olds in my class, many of whom are restless and talkative. I tell them stories or enact role plays and do activities that help the kids study and be happy. I teach English and try not to burden them with homework. Those who are prompt in their schoolwork are encouraged by golden and silver coloured stars.”

But such strategies do not work with all, since every child has a different temperament. There are chatterboxes, who will not want to shut up. There are silent ones, who are shy even to say their names. Some want to play or draw and some have a natural liking for their lessons.

There are also some who may look innocent but are capable of bullying and troubling others. So how challenging is it for a teacher not to raise the voice or use the cane when she has a whole bunch to manage.

“Primary school-goers do not realise what is right and wrong, so we try not to scold them. But for the elder lot, we give warnings, and sometimes resort to detention which means they have to stay back and do extra problems.

If there are those who repeatedly do not do their work, we call their parents or do not send them to play games during the PT period for that day,” says Maya Mohan, the principal of Chinmaya Vidyalaya.

When a little one comes home after a tiring day, flings his bag onto the sofa, eats some food and runs away to play with the kids next door, he usually ignores his mother’s call to do his homework. When he comes back, he likes to switch on the TV and watch Mr. Bean drive his car onto a gooey puddle. After repeated warnings he doesn’t study because he knows he won’t get a beating.

“At times, I firmly believe that spare the rod and spoil the child,” says Mini John, a mother of a ten-year-old. But teachers, especially those in reputed private institutions, nowadays stay away from the cane because it is considered a barbaric practice in modern-day education.

For children, their favourite teacher is always their role model.

“There is a kid in my school who is good in sports but hardly studies. But through regular interactive sessions with the PT sir, the child has now taken an interest in studies,” says Rakhi K. Prince, the principal of Sree Narayana Vidyapeetam,Tripunithura, who believes that it is possible to bring out the best in each child and that the school councilor can help rectify misbehaviour.

The trend seems to be to try the path of advice and affection and inform the parents if nothing works.

No stick but its also not carrots all the way

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