Why corporal punishment persists in Indian classrooms despite the ban

Child rights activists say that the culture surrounding disciplining children in Indian society legitimises violence and abuse. File photo |Photo credit: K. Ananthan | Photo Credit: K_Ananthan Despite her mother’s constant efforts, 14-year-old Anamika (name changed) did not want to go to her school for a week. “Her maths teacher used to hit students constantly. My daughter was sick and missed a few classes and did not do an assignment; she was hit badly. It affected her mental health, and she was not able to handle the pressure,” her mother, Anu, said. She wanted to file a complaint, but the teacher threatened to fail her daughter. Anamika, a Class 9 student, studies in a government girls’ school in Chennai. After a few parents in a meeting said they would raise the complaint with the police, the teacher stopped hitting the students.Though physical punishment and mental harassment of students in educational institutions are illegal in India under Section 17 of the Right to Education Act 2009, corporal punishment is still prevalent in Indian schools. A study, ‘Child Abuse in India -2007’, by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, found that two out of three school children reported facing corporal punishment. Eleven years later, in 2018, a survey in schools in Gurugram by Agrasar, an NGO, found that 80% of students from marginalised communities faced such punishment from teachers. Published - November 14, 2026 01:18 pm IST