Sir Frank Peters :
Corporal punishment in school has raised its grotesquely ugly head yet again and is being held responsible for the taking of a young boy’s life.
It was a normal regular school day for N. Babu (14) of Periyar Nagar, Vadavalli, who was studying in class 9 at the Kamalnathan Government Higher Secondary School at Venkitapuram, until a ‘teacher’ beat him brutally and that changed everything.
He lost all hope in the school system, the justice system, a child support organization, and society in general, and this week decided to end his misery of sheer hell by committing suicide.
And just because this happened in India, don’t fool yourself into thinking it could not happen in Bangladesh and not to your child.
Wherever the evil of corporal punishment is allowed, there’s always the strong possibility of death or life-long damage to a child hovering overhead.
Babu committed suicide by consuming cow dung powder alleging harassment by three of his school ‘teachers’.
In a suicide note recovered by police, he named and shamed the ‘teachers’ responsible and claimed that a month ago, science teacher Kandhaiya had beaten his friend in the classroom. Babu had asked his friend as to what the problem was.
The ‘teacher’, however, accused Babu of questioning him, refused to accept Babu’s explanation and apology, and beat him brutally.
He then took Babu to the staff room, where two other ignorant, sadistic brutish ‘teachers’, Karthick and Gunaseelan, also thrashed him. Ever since Kandhaiya allegedly punished the boy in the class for no apparent reason.
The distressed and depressed young boy, unable to resolve the issue himself and bear the humiliation and torture any longer, reported the matter to his parents. They duly raised the issue with the Headmaster.
“When there was no action, I reported the incident to Child Helpline 1098, but none helped me out,” he said in his suicide note.
Feeling alone, helpless and abandoned by all in a no-way-out situation (as it appeared to him) at 3.00am, while his family was sleeping, he decided to end it all and consumed cow dung powder. His parents rushed him to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival.
Kandhaiya, Karthick and Gunaseelan, the ‘teachers’ Babu accused for his misery and torture, areon the run and Babu’s parents are seeking action against them for abetting in the suicide of their beloved son.
A spokesman at Vadavalli police station said: “A probe is underway to ascertain if the handwriting in the suicide note was that of the boy. On confirmation, action will be taken against the three schoolteachers, who are now on the run. We are probing to know if the allegations levelled by the boy are true.”
Babu’s suicide should be a lesson to everyone with school-going children. Corporal punishment must not be allowed to damage children or, worse, lead to their premature death.
In 2011 when Justices Md Imman Ali and Md Sheikh Hasan Arif outlawed the inhuman, ineffective, ignorant practice of corporal punishment in schools and madrassas throughout Bangladesh, they declared it to be “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child’s fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom”. Time hasn’t changed that.
It’s still cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child’s fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom and must not be tolerated. It’s also against the law.
One can argue that’s Babu’s story is an extreme case and rare. That’s true. Babu found escape from his sadness and depression through death, but what about the thousands of young children like Babu throughout Bangladesh who absolutely hate school because of the corporal punishment within its shameful walls? Aren’t they being deprived of proper education, the very reason for sending them to school?
Enough is enough. Babu’s suicide is the loudest wake-up call heard in the region in quite a long time and screams loudly for every school to engage a policy of zero tolerance to corporal punishment and to enforce it: whether that means having to sack the relative of a person of local influence, a crony, or whoever shouldn’t be in the school.
The children must be given first priority, not measured against the weight of brown envelopes or other influences, their mental and physical health not put at risk, and their lives ruined through the sadistic impulses of ignorant alleged ‘teachers’.
Suicide is the loudest cry for help any human being can make. Through the death of young Babu, sad and unfortunate as it was, it would be of some consolation to his grieving family and friends to know that his death helped save many young lives.
Sir Frank Peters is a former newspaper and magazine publisher and editor, a royal goodwill ambassador, humanitarian, and a respected foreign friend of Bangladesh.
Corporal punishment in school has raised its grotesquely ugly head yet again and is being held responsible for the taking of a young boy’s life.
It was a normal regular school day for N. Babu (14) of Periyar Nagar, Vadavalli, who was studying in class 9 at the Kamalnathan Government Higher Secondary School at Venkitapuram, until a ‘teacher’ beat him brutally and that changed everything.
He lost all hope in the school system, the justice system, a child support organization, and society in general, and this week decided to end his misery of sheer hell by committing suicide.
And just because this happened in India, don’t fool yourself into thinking it could not happen in Bangladesh and not to your child.
Wherever the evil of corporal punishment is allowed, there’s always the strong possibility of death or life-long damage to a child hovering overhead.
Babu committed suicide by consuming cow dung powder alleging harassment by three of his school ‘teachers’.
In a suicide note recovered by police, he named and shamed the ‘teachers’ responsible and claimed that a month ago, science teacher Kandhaiya had beaten his friend in the classroom. Babu had asked his friend as to what the problem was.
The ‘teacher’, however, accused Babu of questioning him, refused to accept Babu’s explanation and apology, and beat him brutally.
He then took Babu to the staff room, where two other ignorant, sadistic brutish ‘teachers’, Karthick and Gunaseelan, also thrashed him. Ever since Kandhaiya allegedly punished the boy in the class for no apparent reason.
The distressed and depressed young boy, unable to resolve the issue himself and bear the humiliation and torture any longer, reported the matter to his parents. They duly raised the issue with the Headmaster.
“When there was no action, I reported the incident to Child Helpline 1098, but none helped me out,” he said in his suicide note.
Feeling alone, helpless and abandoned by all in a no-way-out situation (as it appeared to him) at 3.00am, while his family was sleeping, he decided to end it all and consumed cow dung powder. His parents rushed him to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival.
Kandhaiya, Karthick and Gunaseelan, the ‘teachers’ Babu accused for his misery and torture, areon the run and Babu’s parents are seeking action against them for abetting in the suicide of their beloved son.
A spokesman at Vadavalli police station said: “A probe is underway to ascertain if the handwriting in the suicide note was that of the boy. On confirmation, action will be taken against the three schoolteachers, who are now on the run. We are probing to know if the allegations levelled by the boy are true.”
Babu’s suicide should be a lesson to everyone with school-going children. Corporal punishment must not be allowed to damage children or, worse, lead to their premature death.
In 2011 when Justices Md Imman Ali and Md Sheikh Hasan Arif outlawed the inhuman, ineffective, ignorant practice of corporal punishment in schools and madrassas throughout Bangladesh, they declared it to be “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child’s fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom”. Time hasn’t changed that.
It’s still cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child’s fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom and must not be tolerated. It’s also against the law.
One can argue that’s Babu’s story is an extreme case and rare. That’s true. Babu found escape from his sadness and depression through death, but what about the thousands of young children like Babu throughout Bangladesh who absolutely hate school because of the corporal punishment within its shameful walls? Aren’t they being deprived of proper education, the very reason for sending them to school?
Enough is enough. Babu’s suicide is the loudest wake-up call heard in the region in quite a long time and screams loudly for every school to engage a policy of zero tolerance to corporal punishment and to enforce it: whether that means having to sack the relative of a person of local influence, a crony, or whoever shouldn’t be in the school.
The children must be given first priority, not measured against the weight of brown envelopes or other influences, their mental and physical health not put at risk, and their lives ruined through the sadistic impulses of ignorant alleged ‘teachers’.
Suicide is the loudest cry for help any human being can make. Through the death of young Babu, sad and unfortunate as it was, it would be of some consolation to his grieving family and friends to know that his death helped save many young lives.
Sir Frank Peters is a former newspaper and magazine publisher and editor, a royal goodwill ambassador, humanitarian, and a respected foreign friend of Bangladesh.
