Discrimination Faced by the Socially Disadvantaged Students with Respect to Corporal Punishment

Abstract

Punishment is an inevitable part of growing up experience of children. It is considered as a necessary instrument for developing a disciplined society. Indian society is fragmented from ancient times based on hierarchical system of caste. Traditionally, some castes and communities are assigned the lowest status in this hierarchy. This socially disadvantaged section is deprived of several rights and has to face discrimination in all walks of life including education. In the present article, a comparison has been made between socially disadvantaged and other students with respect to violation of Right to Education Act pertaining to caste-based discrimination in the form of punishment given at school. Two groups were compared on causes and nature of punishments. The total sample comprised 484 students of which 40.45 per cent belonged to the socially disadvantaged group. The data were collected with the help of a structured interview schedule. The findings have shown that there was not much difference between the reasons for which they were punished. But a marked difference was observed with respect to all four categories of punishments. The students from the socially disadvantaged group received more punishments as compared to the other group. The difference between the two groups was more for severe punishments.