Mumbai Mirror

• No exceptions, Archdiocesan Board of  Education (Bombay) tells principals of affiliated schools

Mumbai, Aug 15: The Archdiocesan Board of Education Bombay (ABE) has told all affiliated schools to strictly comply with the laws governing corporal punishment. It issued a circular following several reports of teachers, not necessarily in ABE-affiliated schools, humiliating students to discipline them.

Father Gregory Lobo, secretary, ABE, said, “The church is strictly against corporal punishment.”

This was made clear to principals of ABE-affiliated schools at a recent meeting “We issued guidelines on how teachers should deal with pupils in class and otherwise. We sent a circular to at least 50 affiliated schools,” Lobo said.

“We have been repeatedly holding orientation classes for teachers to explain corrective measures to be used with pupils. We needed to enlighten them about the norms on corporal punishment, violating which may attract legal problems.”

According to the ABE, National Commission for Protection of Child’s Rights has extensively defined what constitutes corporal punishment.

“It now covers making students kneel down for hours, stand up for a long time; describing them as mindless or stupid in class, pinching, slapping, locking them up in class, subjecting them to electric shocks or acts leading to humiliation.

Our guidelines make it clear that teachers cannot use any of these methods to discipline students,” Lobo said.

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, some of the principals said, “We understand the ABE’s concern but our teachers seldom resort to anything that qualifies as corporal punishment.”

However, the ABE is not willing to take any chances.

“We want to make it clear that there should be no exceptions,” said Lobo.