EDUCATION

Corporal punishment parents’ dilemma
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, April 7
Corporal punishment in schools by teachers seem to be on the rise with more and more cases of beating being reported in the past few months. Such incidents have sparked off a debate on whether the issue of beating up of children should be taken up with school authorities or should children be made to continue to suffer at the hands of the teachers out of a fear of a backlash. Some recent cases have made the parents take up cudgels against teachers.

In a recent incident that occurred at the Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, three children were beaten by a short-tempered teacher when they failed to grasp their lessons quickly. Since the new session had just started, there probably was a communication gap between the children and new class-teacher. ‘‘The teacher lost her patience and hit the children on their face and back,’’ revealed an upset grandparent.

Informed sources revealed that one of the uncles of a student came to know about the incident only from a friend of the ward at night as the panic-stricken child was hesitant to talk of the incident with her parents. After the matter was taken up with the school authorities, the school principal was quick to pull up the concerned teacher.

Several boys of the Nauhria Mal Jain Senior Secondary School, Bharat Nagar, have been repeatedly complaining of frequent beating at the hands of the male staff of school. They complain that acts such as not doing home-work, coming late to school or creating disturbance in the class always results in a severe thrashing. The boys say that they are lucky if they get away with a slap. Generally, a cane is used to hit them on their palms or their backs.

Mr O.P. Arora, principal of the school, when asked about such complaints said that to “discipline students, teachers had to be strict with them.” He said that the students were spending a lot of time watching television and were not completing their home-work on time. Reasonable punishment, he said, was a must to get them to work, said Mr Arora. But he agreed that the “quantum of reasonableness” varied from individual to individual.

It may be recalled that a school principal had six months ago resorted to corporal punishment for students, as well as some teachers for coming late to the morning assembly.

It may be mentioned that on December 2, 2000, the Delhi High Court had imposed a ban on corporal punishment in schools. The court directed the Delhi government to ensure that children were not subjected to corporal punishment in schools and received education in an environment of freedom and dignity, free from fear. Brutal treatment of children could never inculcate discipline in them and obedience exacted by striking fear of punishment could make them adopt the same tactics when they grew up for getting what they want, said the bench of judges

Though there are several who still believe in the maxim, ‘‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’’, but it seems that not many parents are happy with it.

Inter-school contests
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 7
Nearly 150 students participated in an inter-school painting and dance contests organised by Pankhudi, a social organisation, at the municipal park of Model Town Extension this evening.

Participants of the painting contest from KG to Class II were given the liberty to draw and paint on theme of their choice. Children from Classes III to V were told to make picnic scene or balloon seller. Students from Classes VI to X were given themes on pollution, earthquake and any dream.

CULTURE

Punjabi writers honoured
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 7
Kartar Singh Dhaliwal (Memorial) Awards have been announced by the Punjabi Sahit Akademi. Awards will be presented for two years (1998-99, 1999-2000) to persons of high literary merit and creative qualities.

The awards will be given away at a function to be held at the Punjab Bhawan on Sunday. The prime award for the year 1998-99 will be given to Prof Pritam Singh, while Prof Dalip Kaur Tiwana is being given the award for the year 1999-2000. Twelve literary figures to be honoured by the akademy are as follows:

Mr Pritam Singh, an eminent scholar, a teacher of teachers, a well known personality, is linked with academic institutions. He has authored 60 books which made him the ideal candidate for the prime award. He has a rich personal library with rare manuscripts. He is a linguist and a successful translator.

Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana is a highly gifted scholarly as well as literary lady. She is the winner of prestigious awards. Her contribution to Punjabi fiction is qualitatively rich. She has developed the Punjabi novel and the genre of short story. Her autobiography is a must for readers.

Inderjeet Hassanpuri started as a painter, and went to Mumbai to produce films. He is a notable song writer. Scores of his lyrics are part of film music. Hundreds of them are sung by famous singers throughout Punjabi world.

Afzal Ahsan Randhawa is a sensitive and serious person with concern for the down-trodden. He entered politics to serve society, and established himself as a fiction-writer. His novels are read in both the Punjabs.

Baldev Singh has a rich experience of working as a truck driver and managing cargo carriage., transport business and living away from home. He established himself by his book ‘Saraknama’. His novel ‘Lal Batti is readable and empathetic.

Hardev Singh Virk, a Ph.D in Physics from Paris University, is a person of literary bent of mind. His travelogues are popular. He has a fine prose style. The science-oriented clarity lends him a genuine distinction.

Dr Rattan Singh Jaggi, a keen scholar, is also an able guide, excellent editor of literary journals. He has many distinctions, including Ph.D., D. Lit. His command over Hindi is amazing and he has authored dozens of books of literary merit and academic excellence.

Waryam Singh Sandhu has created a niche in the field of fiction. He has four collections of short stories to his credit. He has already bagged the National Sahitya Award.

Dharam Pal Singhal is a serious scholar, dependable guide and a person of aesthetic sensibility. He has authored, guided and revised countless books, research papers and writings.

Harbhajan Singh Hundal is a versatile person. Basically, a teacher, he is connected with literary organisations. His poetry is loved and admired. His prose is terse and his prose fiction is aesthetic. He has a progressive image which he has maintained.

Sukhwant Kaur Mann is a deep student of literary books on one side and a thinker in her own right. She is well read and her specialisation is prose function. Her forte is short stories. Her books are not only read but also admired.

Bhagwant Singh was basically confined to offices of the Punjab Secretarat. He had the good fortune of meeting literary people and attending poetic sessions. This helped him to develop his latent talents. He has poetic sensibility and quality of painting the inner man. All these literary figures richly deserved the awards.