Mindset of teachers must undergo a paradigm shift in disciplining adolescent children: Karnataka High Court

Observing that the “myopic or parochial mindset of teachers must undergo a paradigm shift” in disciplining adolescent children, the High Court of Karnataka on Friday declined to interfere with the criminal case registered against two teachers for abetting the suicide of a girl student by allegedly harassing and threatening her, in the guise of enforcing discipline, for talking with a boy of the same school. “Boys and girls are in the same classroom; if they talk to each other or become friends, it is ununderstandable as to how such acts could become subversive of discipline,” the court wondered by expressing a hope that this case becomes “an eye-opener towards such paradigm shift”. Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while dismissing the petition filed by Roopesha, 34, a drawing teacher, and Sadananda, 44, a physical training teacher, with a private school in Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district. Idea of discipline Pointing out that enforcement of discipline has dual connotations, one positive and the other negative, the court said, “The positive method of disciplining a child is only through motivation; the negative of it is in the manner that has become the subject matter of the present crime.” The victim, the court said, was sought to be chided not for any indiscipline or any act that was subversive of any laid-down discipline in the school, but for asking her to stop talking to a fellow male student.