Indian school not forthcoming on action over teacher who paraded student as ‘useless’

The CEO of the outstanding Indian High School, which was in the spotlight last week over a teacher's decision to punish a seventh grader by making him parade with a ‘useless boy of 7W’ badge for being undisciplined, was reluctant to divulge if any disciplinary action was taken following their probe into the matter.

“If you keep coming back to me after 5 days, or 8 days, I will not be able to do my work,” said Ashok Kumar. “Don’t you have any other news to report on?”But when Emirates 24|7 insisted on the details of their action, he responded, “All I can say is that this is an isolated case and we have upped the child protection act”. He, however, refused to detail anything more.

“Both sides of the story was heard and analysed, and the right action has been taken."

Students of the school, however, were more forthcoming.“Such things have never happened to us, and definitely not in our batch,” stressed 12th grader Vivek Bhatia, adding, “We have no idea who the teacher is. I guess she’s new.”

And, even if such odd cases do emerge, students clarified that parents can escalate it to the school management. “In terms of punishment, it’s harsher for the boys than the girls. And we have counsellors, who help us out if we face any problems,” added another student Anushka Makar.“If you do something naughty, we are asked to stand outside the class, or worse, our parents will be informed,” stated Priyanka Rodricks, a Grade 12 student of the same school.The group was obviously saddened by the way their school has been highlighted. “We’ve been in the school for so long, we feel bad to see our school being projected like this,” said Vivek.

Dr Naresh Kumar Dhar, Psychiatrist of Jumeriah Prime Medical Centre, strongly criticised such penalties, stressing that they can negatively impact a child’s confidence. “Depending on a child’s personality, it can have mild or extreme reactions. Sometimes it can be harmful if the self-ego is high.”

According to him, disciplining a child should be accomplished without singling out the child and parading him with such demeaning messages. “Schools can call them individually and explain the implications of bad behaviour or carry out group activities,” he explained.A directive from the Ministry of Education in 1998 had banned physical punishment in state schools, stressing how every school should have a discipline policy in place that prevents teachers from indulging in such actions.Detention is never enjoyable but if administered within the boundary, without inflicting any physical or mental injury, it could help in grooming children.Many UAE students were united in their stand that school punishments were closely monitored and didn’t harm them.

“Trust me, teachers are not even allowed to touch us. And if we don’t do our homework, they just tell us or inform our parents. And in rare cases, we can go to the student counsellor,” said Rishika Rai, a Grade 12 student of Our Own English High School Sharjah.Reza Zelbenrust, Grade 10 of Greenfield Community School, Dubai, seconded that stand, with, “The schools really exaggerate on the no-touch policy. No teacher is allowed to touch any of the students.”

His friends Farah Alhalbouni of Grade 11 and Rula Alhalbouni of Grade 9 added that detention meant sitting in a room, or at the worst, clearing trash from the field.“If we do something wrong, we are just asked to stand outside the class,” reported Mohammad Parker, Grade 12 student of Our Own English High School Dubai.

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