Recent events often stir up old controversies. The use of corporal punishment in a very well known school in Calcutta and its tragic aftermath have reopened the debate about using the cane and perpetrating other forms of physical punishment on students. In one sense, the debate is irrelevant since corporal punishment in schools has been banned by a Supreme Court ruling, and therefore its use is illegal. The headmaster of the school, when he wielded the cane on a student, engaged in an illegal act, and the school authorities, by standing by him, are actually complicit in an illegal action. A school and its headmaster are supposed to set an example to the students and also to society. This simple principle is being violated in this case, which, for understandable reasons, has become a cause célèbre in Calcutta and even elsewhere. Ignorance of the law cannot be an alibi for violating the law. Too many codes and conventions of running a school and of proper behaviour in a civilized society have been breached somewhat shamelessly by persons who should have known better.

It is undeniable that in the past caning and other forms of corporal punishment were part of common practice in schools. It was assumed, especially in British public schools, that the use of the cane would make men out of the boys. Punish-and-discipline was the accepted norm among headmasters, teachers and school prefects. But notions of discipline and of helping children grow up are not static concepts. They change and evolve over time. There is a greater awareness today about the trauma that violence creates in the minds and upon the bodies of children. Modes of disciplining and modes of teaching have both changed since the days of Tom Brown and Mr Chips. It is also true that the best teachers in any school seldom resort to violence towards students. They command respect and attention rather than demanding them with a cane in hand. By his actions, the headmaster of the concerned school has demonstrated his cavalier attitude towards the laws of the land, and also his propensity to cling to outmoded and discredited forms of punishment. That the incident occurred in one of Calcutta’s elite schools only underlines how backward the arena of education is in India. It is time educators began to educate themselves. Once they do this they will be surprised to discover how swiftly the cane is rendered superfluous.