The state of education is
always a cause for much negativity so the few times one gets positive news it is
hard not to take notice. With a number of instances of teachers administering
corporal punishment to students coming into the public limelight over the last
few years, the passing of the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill 2013 by
the National Assembly (NA) was considered a positive step.
However those associated with his honourable profession corporal punishment is
deemed fit to exert their authority of children.
There had been many examples of corporal punishment in education institutions
because sometime students misbehave with other students or don’t listen to their
teachers, but why a student a remote village of Toba Tek Singh was beaten blue
and black and later forced to stay under the blazing Sun will astonish you
because she remained absent from school only for one day.
It is a case of corporal punishment at the Government Secondary Middle School,
Chak No. 245 G.B. Toba Tek Singh, where a student, Mubara Majeed, daughter of
Abdul Majeed student of Class 8th, first of all was beaten black a blue, then
forced to stay out under the open Sun for the whole school time for two days.
Her only fault was that she remained absent from the school without taking leave
from the school headmistress, Mrs Rubina. The reason for Mubarra’s Majeed’s
“heinous” crime was that she had to attend the ‘Chaliswan’ of her grandmother on
April 8, 2015. But the tale behind her ordeal started when her grandmother died
on March 4. The headmistress of the school did not let her attend the funeral of
her maternal grandmother and later stopped her from taking leave for attending
the ‘Soyem’ as well, which forced Mubarra to remained absent from the school on
April 8 that infuriated Mrs Rubina who resorted to inhuman tactics to subdue a
child. Isn’t this an inhuman attitude and playing with social values of a
family.
After Mubarra had passed through her ordeal, her parents tried to intervene and
visited to school to question the headmistress. They too faced the wrath of Mrs
Rubina, and had to return red faced.
However during past two weeks, Mubara Majeed’s condition has taken an odd turn,
as she has developed some sort of severe skin problems due to overstay in the
open besides suffering damage to her eyesight. Who is responsible for her
health? Since then, Mubarra is suffering from sever depression bouts, therefore
unable to attend the school which is hampering her studies. The family cannot
afford to take her out of the school because this is the only school in their
vicinity and they cannot send her to some other school, which are situated far
away.
Under the Prohibition of the Corporal Punishment Act 2013, corporal punishment
of children in educational institutions is disallowed. The bill’s clauses
clearly declare that any form of corporal punishment of children in academic
institutions is illegal and the individuals found to be involved in the acts
would be sentenced to one year in prison, Rs50,000 fine or both.
Therefore, the authorities concerned should look into the matter and take
punitive action against the headmistress under Prohibition of the Corporal
Punishment Act for resorting to such suppressive tactics on a teenager that have
dented her psychologically.