Children made to walk on fire, glass for ‘confidence’

This could be an extreme lesson in testing the endurance of children as young as 10-14 years. A city school on Tuesday night made the kids walk on burning coal and broken glass pieces as their parents watched.

The school authorities, however, described the incident, which happened around 11pm at River Dale Academy on L P Savani School Road, as a "scientific and confidence-building exercise". The school claimed no one was injured in the event in which a few parents also participated.

The school had organized a two-day night camp for the students. In all, 125 students participated in it. A majority of them undertook the daunting task in the presence of around 50 parents.

"We have been organizing this event every year for the last seven years. I think there’s nothing shocking in it as it was just an exercise to boost confidence. In the past, no injuries were reported during such an exercise, so we are continuing," said Mahesh Patel, director of River Dale Academy.

"People are shocked as they came to know about it for the first time. Maybe it looks dangerous but actually it’s not. None of the parents objected and it was permitted by them. But in future we will take care if this hurts public sentiment," said Patel.

With the issue coming into limelight, district education officer K R Zanzrukia has ordered an inquiry. On Wednesday, parents of students participating in the camp gathered at the school in support of the authorities. However, many have not taken it lightly. "It is a gross violation of a child’s right," said assistant labour commissioner S A Trivedi, adding, "this is physical torture to a child."

District collector A J Shah said: "How can you adopt such tactics to build self-confidence in a child? There are many management techniques in the education system to build confidence." Rupin Pacchigar, chairman, Nagar Prathmik Shikshan Samiti of SMC that runs 270 schools with 1.36 lakh students, said: "This is ridiculous. This type of activity can only harm children."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 22nd April 2010

TED India Talks: Shukla Bose - Teaching one child at a time

Educating the poor is more than just a numbers game, says Shukla Bose. She tells the story of her groundbreaking Parikrma Humanity Foundation, which brings hope to India's slums by looking past the daunting statistics and focusing on treating each child as an individual.

About Shukla Bose:

Shukla Bose is the founder and head of the Parikrma Humanity Foundation, a nonprofit that runs four extraordinary schools for poor children.

The word "Parikrma" implies a full revolution, a complete path around -- and Shukla Bose's Parikrma Humanity Foundation offers literally that to kids in poor urban areas around Bangalore. Parikrma's four Schools of Hope teach the full, standard Indian curriculum to children who might not otherwise see the inside of a classroom, with impressive results. Equally important, the schools build an "end-to-end" environment that supports learning -- offering lunch every day, health-care and family support. Beyond these schools, Parikrma has inaugurated several afterschool programs and has plans for setting up a central teacher-training hub.

Bose left behind a corporate career in 1992 to found Parikrma with a small group of friends. The nonprofit holds itself to formal business goals and strict accountability, and has developed some clever fundraising and marketing campaigns. As Bose puts it, the goal of Parikrma is to help build a better India by tapping its greatest strength: the vitality and potential of its people.

"Education of children is at the core of our aim to transform poor communities into self-sustaining, contributing communities. "
Shukla Bose

Here is the video:

Holy mans amazing feet on children

How can anyone let their child to be treated like this. This is as bizarre as it gets. Heights of superstition.

Read On..



A bizarre holy man has been arrested on child torture charges after horrified parents found him stamping on their youngsters' throats to cure them of colds. Self-proclaimed demi-god Jamun Yadav, 50, told police his holy Hindu powers allowed him to transfer divine energy from the soles of his feet. He said the amazing feets of magic allowed him to fight all illnesses in Katihar, eastern India. "This is scandalous and we have arrested him. The parents didn't know just what his treatment involved when they agreed to it," said police spokesman Santosh Singh. "He claims he needs no defence in court because he speaks for God. So it should be an interesting trial," he added.

Source: www.austriantimes.at, 21st December 2009

Bike driven over kids hand in a tamilnadu school

A teacher in Tamil Nadu did ride his bike on his students hand and stomach. Is this a school or a circus training institute. I know it can be done with practice, but are the parents sending kids to school to do such stunts. I really dont understand what the teacher want to achieve here.

Read On..

A state government run elementary school in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district, celebrated a function by making students endure the pain of a motorcycle run over their hands. And as if this was not bad enough, a motorcycle was also driven over the stomach of a little girl.

School authorities say that it was meant to be a bravery show and was organised with the consent of the parent-teacher body. The students say they were put through the stunt several times as practice.

Ironically, this brutality on the children was witnessed by the state's High Education Minister, K Ponmudi's wife, who was there to distribute free uniforms and stationery. K Ponmudi has now distanced himself from the event.

"I have already warned them that no such incident should not happen again. We will take neccesary action. It is a rare incident," he says.

But the matter has now been raised by the Centre and child activists too are protesting.

Women and Child Development Minister, Krishna Tirath said, "It is shocking. If necessary, we will ask the child commission to probe into the matter."

The incident is a case of gross violation of children rights. Despite the presence of the state education minister wife's - who reportedly objected to these daredevil stunts being performed - no action has been taken by the government for over two weeks till Tuesday when media took up the issue.

Source: IBNLive.com, Jul 29, 2009

Insaaf ki dagar pe, Bachchon dikhaao chal ke, Ye desh hai tumhaaraa, Netaa tumhi ho kal ke :)

By reading this news, i remembered a song from the movie 'Ganga Jamuna' where a teacher sings and explains his students that "Walk on the Path of justice, dear children...This is your nation and you're the leaders of tomorrow"
If this is what the teachers of modern india teaches their stundents, such shameful incidents would not occur.
Read On..

In a swift action, two Class XI students of a Delhi government school were arrested Sunday for allegedly molesting a 21-year-old woman from Jamia Millia Islamia University inside their school in Bharat Nagar in New Friends Colony on October 22. According to the police, Sandeep Kumar and Sandeep Singh, both 20, are students of class XI in the school.

The two students were identified by the victim during a test identification parade (TIP) Sunday.

As reported in these columns on October 24, a 21-yearold woman from Arunachal Pradesh was allegedly molested inside the government school in Bharat Nagar.

The woman was surrounded by a pack of about 200 school boys who allegedly pulled her skirt, pounced on her and molested her for over 30 minutes. No teacher or guard came to her rescue, according to media reports.

After going through all the trauma, the woman mustered courage to lodge a complaint with the police. But the police had a strange way to investigate the crime. She was sent back to the school in the name of an undercover operation. She was accompanied by policemen in plain clothes and a large number of her own classmates of Jamia Millia college hoping that the same boys would target her again.

Seeing a large number of persons, the alleged molesters did not come anywhere near her. She was then sent from class to class to identify the boys who had misbehaved with her. Ultimately, she identified a few boys who were interrogated by the police and let off.

School principal Javed Qamar had a different version. He said he came to know about a woman being eve-teased outside the school. "I had even sent three teachers out to see what had happened but they could not find anyone. We will help the girl and the police to identify the offenders, and if found guilty, their names will be struck off from the rolls. But a lot of times, ex-students too come to the school in uniform. The school has a security guard but he had gone to switch off the water pump at the time of the incident", he was quoted in the media.

According to the victim, she was going to the university on a rickshaw at around 3.30 pm when some boys started passing lewd comments. One of them even touched her. She stopped the rickshaw and chased the boys who had entered the school premises. It was then that about 200 boys surrounded her and started pulling her skirt and pouncing on her.

Source: news.in.msn.com, 26/10/2009