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“Children are subject to harassment and discrimination by the school teachers and other staff on account of celebration of festivals. It has been noticed that schools do not allow children to wear rakhi or tilak or mehandi in schools during the festivals such as Raksha Bandhan and subject them to harassment, both physical and mental”, the circular highlighted.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), recently, issued a circular addressed a letter to the Principal Secretaries of School Education Departments across all States and Union Territories in response to reports alleging that children faced harassment and discrimination by school teachers and staff during festival celebrations.
It was observed that certain schools prohibited children from wearing rakhi, tilak, or mehandi during festivals like Raksha Bandhan, subjecting them to both physical and mental harassment. The Commission highlighted that corporal punishment in schools is expressly prohibited under Section 17 of the Right to Education Act, 2009.
In light of the approaching festivals, the Commission requested that appropriate directions be issued to ensure that schools refrain from practices that could lead to corporal punishment or discrimination. The Commission further requested a compliance report, including a copy of the relevant orders, to be submitted by August 17, 2024.
Recently, the Delhi High Court also reiterated Section 17 of the RTE Act noting that “The corporal punishment to a child in any form is deprecable, even though the motive may be to make a child realise that his/her act is unacceptable, wrong or disappointing”.
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