KERALA, INDIA, February 21, 2001: Sparing the rod and spoiling the child, a medieval concept that chipped away at a child’s self esteem, has virtually been abandoned in most nations around the world. In 1989 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a move in favor of the “Rights of the Child” and the convention promoted that, “State parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity.” However, India has only paid lip service to the U.N. directive. Allowing corporal punishment in certain circumstances, none of which have been defined, has literally given frustrated low paid teachers the license to abuse the children under their care. Several instances have been reported such as a teenager needing surgery because his ears were boxed by a principal, a 5-year-old requiring psychiatric care after physical torture by a teacher, and a 13-year-old was stripped naked and paraded at a New Delhi school. Results of such discipline has been proven completely contrary to the intended result of society and condemned by psychologists and social scientists. Children exposed to such punishment develop warped personalities with inclinations of defiance, hostility, and rebelliousness.
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