While it is nobody’s case that an incident of the kind witnessed in Kolkata’s La Martiniere Boys’ School--in which a 13-year-old student Rouvanjit Rawla was reportedly driven to suicide after the principal caned him—be repeated elsewhere, should our schools completely do away with corporal punishment as is being suggested now?

Let us not confuse corporal punishment with a spur-of-the-moment hitting of a student but as a premeditated punishment after repeated warnings fail or the conduct of a student deserves a stiffer punishment. It has been argued that more than inflicting pain it is the accompanying humiliation that acts as an effective deterrent to those who indulge in gross misconduct or bent on creating mischief beyond what is acceptable.

It is not unusual for teachers and parents to come across school bullies making life hell for other kids. It is also not unusual to come across ragging in schools and colleges that have led to either suicide or death. To think that such kids would improve their behavior by wise counsel alone and grow into adults who respect law or propriety would be a mistake. By completely banning corporal punishment we would only be emboldening these students, especially now that the CBSE intend to not only enforce its no-corporal-punishment diktat strictly but also “to fix responsibility and provide for compensation”.

After all, corporal punishment is meant to be selective and one of the tools of disciplining a rogue. If it is completely done away with what would prevent a school bully from turning into a full-fledged rogue element of the future?