Boy, Aged 5, Faints After Tuition Teacher Beats Him: Student Abuse Needs To Stop Now!

The sight of a teacher hitting a student in order to discipline them is considered quite ordinary in our schools and coaching classes. Many parents actually give permission to the teachers hit their kids if they are not studying properly. But is physical assault the only way to ensure that a student completes their homework or aces their exams? When does disciplining cross over into physical assault? How much abuse is a student expected to endure before they can ask their teachers or parents to stop?

Recently, a video surfaced on the internet, where a private tuition teacher in Bihar can be seen beating a child with a thick wooden stick. What is even more outrageous in the video is the audacity of the teacher to beat the student, until the stick broke down. And if you think this is where he stopped, you are wrong, allegedly he further kept slapping and punching the boy, who is said to be just five years old. Meanwhile, the student can be seen crying out loud, asking for the teacher to stop.

News reports say that the boy lost consciousness due to the assault and had to be rushed to a hospital. Upon learning about the assault, locals then nabbed the teacher and trashed him.

This video is just one example of how students become prey to the personal frustration of teachers. Speaking about the teacher's behaviour, the coaching center's owner said that he suffered from high blood pressure. As absurd as the explanation sounds, we should ask, why was such a volatile person allowed to teach young kids? If he had temper issues or was not keeping well, then why was he allowed to carry a cane to the classroom?

Is the high blood pressure condition enough explanation to beat someone till they get unconscious? Is it okay to beat someone with a stick in order to discipline them? If it wasn't in a classroom, would we see this physical abuse in the same light?

Bihar teacher beats student till he faints: Not an isolated incident

Just one month ago, a video emerged, again from Bihar, in which a teacher is seen fast asleep in her chair in school. As other students are sitting idly on the floor, a little girl in uniform is seen standing next to her and fanning as she is napping comfortably. Even though the video drew ire from people and claims were made that authorities will take strict action against her, why must it take a viral video for authorities to see the lapses in our education system and poor behaviour of Indian educators?

Suggested Reading: Viral Video: Students Learn Hindi, Urdu On One Blackboard Simultaneously In Bihar School

The most chilling thing here is how normalised student abuse is in our country. We conveniently turn a blind eye towards it until it is something as horrifying as a school principal dangling a student off the building as a punishment for being "naughty".

Even when our parents hit us, and claim that it's for our betterment, we see no wrong in that. Similarly, when our teachers physically abuse us in order to discipline we are taught to see no harm in it. But there is harm. Any kind of abuse brings years of trauma with it. Abuse can also instill resentment in a child for their teachers of parents.

Even worse, physical abuse can create aversion or fear in a student for a particular subject. Remember that math teacher in your school who always carried a cane? Couldn't their behaviour be the reason that you never liked the subject or developed an unreasonable fear for exams and homework?

Enduring physical abuse in the name of punishment is a lived reality of many students in India. Alas, parents only realise of how harmful it can be when such an incident takes place. We shouldn't have to wait for a child to collapse to accept that beating is not teaching. But it isn't too late to start this conversation now.

Views expressed are the author’s own.