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II
Equating a child’s death due to school harassment with custodial death is a right step. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal deserves all the praise for bringing speedy and sensible reforms in the education policy under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Surely, many schoolteachers indulge in canning, slapping, kicking and beat children mercilessly often for frivolous reasons. Mr Sibal has promised to do away with sections 88 and 89 of the IPC which provide protection to the teachers. As per the new guidelines, schools will be held responsible if a child faces disability or death due to harassment by teachers. Suchguidelines/ rules are the need of the hour. Appropriate compensation should also be given to the parents in case of the death of a child due to corporal punishment.Apart from these guidelines, it would also be in the interest of the nation if there are strict rules for testing the behaviour, attitude and mental conditions of the teachers, apart from their teaching abilities, before they are given jobs in schools and colleges. RK KAPOOR, Chandigarh
III
The student community in general and the teaching community in particular are pained to learn about the death of the student of La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata. A teacher is supposed to use the rod like a surgeon’s knife. In good old times the head teacher used to keep one “kalamdan” (inkpot) and one “aqaldan” (stick) on his table. Times have changed now. In the Kolkata case, parents should have enquired from the teacher about the corporal punishment and helped their ward by counselling him rightly. Rules are useless until they are implemented fully. Quoting instances of Europe and other advanced countries mean little. The need of the hour is to teach lessons of tolerance and human values to
students. SHYAM SUNDER AIRI, Kapurthala
IV
The editorial was apt. Corporal punishment has become a significant issue these days. I think that just framing laws will not help. We should change the saying ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’ to ‘Spare the rod, save the child’. There is an urgent need to change our mindset. ANKITA SHARMA.Talwara, Hoshiarpur
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Haryana identity
D R Chaudhry’s article, “Missing Haryana identity" (June 17) was well- written. The writer has perceptively observed the general behaviour and mindset of the people of different regions of Haryana. I appreciate his broad-based concept of Haryana identity and his genuine concern for miniature sub-regionalism, which tends to sharpen the division among common people in this small state along regional, caste and ethnic lines.It is a common impression among the people of Haryana that every
Chief Minister pays special attention to his home district. If Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda had not become the Chief Minister, Rohtak would never have got its due. New buildings with international standards and facilities have recently come up on the campus of MDU, Rohtak. New roads, lanes, parks and stadiums have been raised in and around this historical city. This would never have been possible without Mr Hooda’s personal intervention. In Haryana, we see Dalits, Jats, Punjabis and traders in quest of a new identity. New dharamshalas with multi-storied buildings have been mushrooming in the name of caste identity for some time. Some communities have openly shown their biases and prejudices and in the process have weakened the unity of ordinary people in Haryana. The recent clashes between the Dalits and Jats in Jind and Hisar districts do not portend well for the future. R B YADAV, Fatehabad
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