GS4 (Case study)
You are a government official responsible for looking into Right to Education Act violations in your district. You come to know of a man who has beaten his daughter for not taking her 10th class exams. After beating her, he took her to the exam hall. Such corporal punishment is a punishable offence with a 3 month jail term. In the investigation the farmer says that he does not want his children to live in poverty like him. If you send him to jail he says that his family will face severe hardships. What are your options? Evaluate each option, and choose the one you will implement.
Best answer
Manish M wrote the best answer for this question and got a score of 4.5/10 (if the best answer is an image, it cannot be uploaded here, hence scroll down to see those). The answer is being reproduced below for everyone’s convenience. Of course these answers can always be improved. (Best answer of a particular only involves those given on that day, later answers may not have been checked)
The case here is Right to Education and how it can change the dynamics of life if pursued especially for those in Poverty.
Situation:
1. A father beats up his child for not willing to study and beating anyone is corporal offence
2. The reason to beat up the child by father was to pave way for her daughter out of Poverty
3. If Punished the family under poverty will only suffer more and if not then such cases take place more
Outcomes to the situation –
1 Outcome.
Understanding the background of the family and Indian culture where such things are a common sight this can be ignored. This however will project me as an irresponsible government official.
2 Outcome.
As a responsible citizen and a government official
a) Talk to the child for her reasons which can be
i) If the child isn’t interested then she should be made aware of importance of education and how it will help her get a respectable job and help her make right choices for herself.
ii) She is helping her family to earn livelihood which leaves her exhausted to attend school and even if she does she can’t concentrate. This can be solved by enrolling the girl in National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE), Beti bachao Beti Padhao shceme to enable her to devote her time to studies. (not sure about this point but child labour laws in India are not good)
iii) If the child has absolutely no interest in studies then the child should to be enrolled into Vocational training schemes of the government for a decent job in future.
b)The father of the child must be punished as such acts if left unpunished will only crop up more such cases. The punishment should however be minimal citing the condition of his family as the law is punishable up to maximum of 3 months or less.
He should be made aware of the rights of the child and the need to restraint from harming them physically as such acts damage the development of the child and also encourages them to behave violently in future.
As schooling starts from the House first and parents are the first teachers of a child the parents need to behave in a manner which is good for the growth of the child. The parents behaviour towards the child will determine the behaviour of the child towards the family members and also the society.
