57 cases of punishment, mental harassment of kids in 13 yrs: Govt

Cuttack: State govt on Wednesday informed the Orissa high court that 57 cases of physical punishment and mental harassment of children in schools were reported from across the state from 2010 to 2023.
In an affidavit, director of elementary education Jyoti Ranjan Mishra said 57 cases were reported from 16 districts, while no case was reported from rest of the districts.
He added the highest 11 cases were reported from Sundargarh, while Jajpur and Balangir followed with six cases each and Mayurbhanj with five cases.
The court was hearing a PIL regarding the death of a Class IV student of a govt school in Jajpur after being allegedly forced to do sit-ups as a form of punishment nearly 10 months back. Advocate Prabir Kumar Das, a Bhubaneswar-based human rights activist filed the PIL seeking the Court’s direction for enforcing Section 17 (1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 in the schools of the State citing Rudra’s death. Section 17 (1) of the Act mandates that no child shall be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment.
In the affidavit, Mishra stated that as part of the implementation of the Act “school premises have been declared as punishment free zone and necessary wall painting has been ensured in all government schools of the state.”