The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has ordered school head teachers or physical education (PT) teachers to refrain from coercing students into participating in sports activities, irrespective of their physical condition.
The Commission issued the directive following an incident in which a teacher reprimanded a girl for remaining in the classroom during the PT period rather than going to the playground. This directive seeks to prevent such incidents from recurring.
Furthermore, the panel instructed the Deputy Director of Education in Kasaragod to issue guidelines to school authorities to prevent future occurrences of such incidents.
The directive came in response to a high-level complaint against a teacher at the Chandragiri Government Higher Secondary School filed by a parent.
According to the Deputy Director of Education, the teacher’s actions were based on reports of students misusing their mobile phones instead of attending PT sessions.
However, the Commission highlighted that such incidents could have been avoided if the teacher or counsellor had been provided with information about the girl’s physical condition.
The commission said that parents would not file complaints against teachers without valid reasons, and in this case, it was done to protect other children from experiencing similar situations. It was also noted that students might hesitate to disclose their physical conditions to their teachers.
The Commission argued that the teacher should have sought an explanation before reprimanding the child, and the argument that the teacher did not want the student to remain alone in the classroom considering her safety was illogical. Instead, the Commission suggested that if safety was a concern, children should be seated closer to the teacher’s room.
