The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has said that insulting children or asking them to apologise in the school assembly or in front of other children is a serious violation of child rights against which action should be taken.
If a student does violate the discipline of a school, action taken as per rules should be commensurate with it. The commission also said that the police should record the statements of complainants about such incidents and if necessary, register cases and take further action.
A Division Bench of the commission, comprising members K. Nazeer and Babitha B., was acting on a complaint by a woman about the action by St. Patrick School, Mananthavady, against her son, a class 3 student, in the name of a haircut.
Suspended too
She alleged that her son was summoned to the stage during the school assembly attended by 800 students, made to turn around, scolded publicly for his haircut, and suspended for three days. The boy who studied well became emotionally distressed and refused to eat after the incident.
The district child protection officer, in a report, said the nine-year-old boy became very disturbed. Instead of looking into the reasons for the lapse in discipline, warn him, or inform the parents, scolding him publicly was a violation of child rights.
Magnitude of violation
The commission observed that summoning the young boy to the stage and humiliating him in the name of discipline was a denial of his self-respect and violation of child rights. Though Principals had the right to enforce discipline, the action taken by them should be commensurate with the violation.
The commission also asked the Director of General Education, CBSE Regional Officer, and ICSE Secretary to ensure that such violation of children’s rights did not occur in any school in the State.
