Editorial

Excessive Discipline is Systemic Failure: 
Humiliating Students makes Torturers of Teachers 

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

— Article 5, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights “Your worst humiliation is only someone else’s momentary entertainment.”

— Karen Crockett

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

— Elie Wiesel  (Nobel Laureate 1986) 

Three 14-year-old school students’ attempted suicide three weeks ago, on June 22, 2009 to be precise. One of them, Anuthara Kavindi Jayawardene, a ninth grader at Musaeus College Colombo, died three days after admission to hospital. This is a tragic event by any account. That her death was easily preventable makes it worse. Both these facts, though extremely unfair and unfortunate, cannot be undone, though we must learn from them. What can and should be done is to hold the principal and her staff accountable for their role in this tragedy, and in doing so to ensure the refashioning of our education system, making it more sensitive and accountable to the emotional and physical needs of adolescent students, among others. 

The issue is not about whether Kavindi did something wrong, or, for that matter, whether she should be punished for her alleged misdeed. The burning question over which Sri Lankan society is hardly divided is whether any punishment for any wrongdoing should cause the kind of pain of mind and humiliation that can result in a child committing suicide by hanging herself (with her school tie on the school premises). There is only one humane answer to this question, and that is an unequivocal “No.” This child’s vulnerability, shame and suffering had only one immediate outlet because all other immediate alternatives had been denied her by her school, and because the authorities’ attitude showed not sympathy and understanding but sanctimoniousness and cold disregard for the difficulties of adolescence.

A number of related yet distinct issues need to be clarified here. Not only were the events that led to the death of Kavindi utterly unacceptable, expert medical evidence indicates that it was easily preventable at three distinct stages. First, Kavindi should have had the benefit of immediate attention from the school first aid or medical unit. Every school should have such a facility. Second, basic common sense would have dictated that her clothing should be immediately loosened, especially her tie, and this does not require medical expertise but ordinary decency and concern. Third, she should have been taken immediately to the nearest hospital since every second counts.

According to medical evidence the suffering child was brought in to Asiri Central Hospital (located just opposite the road from Musaeus) after some delay, and at that time her tie was still constricting her, both factors contributing to her ultimate death.

To add insult to injury, the Principal of Museaus College has responded to media queries stating that she is unable to speak about the incident since it is under investigation. She adds that the school is cooperating fully with the police and has provided all information to assist their inquiry. A report has been submitted to the Minister of Education as well. As if this matter were purely a legal/police issue, and not one that primarily concerns the senseless and preventable death of a young teenage girl…

The invocation of (variations) the sub judice principle is common in Sri Lanka in situations like this, and almost invariably wrong in its interpretation. Firstly, the restriction applies only to formal cases being heard in a court of law, and not to ongoing investigations undertaken by the police or other relevant authority. Here too the restrictions are carefully defined and do not constitute a blanket order for silence. Often it is invoked merely to wriggle out of an uncomfortable situation, and becomes, in the eyes of the public, an admission of guilt.

Most importantly, perhaps, can such an investigation justify the fact that the school authorities have uttered not a single word expressing sorrow at the child’s death? There is not even a token white flag at the entrance to the school to mark the tragic loss of a student within its premises.

Instead, the school is taking upon itself the air of being the injured party, apparently feeling maligned and mistreated. Meanwhile, and perhaps as a result of hard work put in by defenders of the school’s honour, Colombo is rife with gossip that doubly victimises the victim. Scurrilous and cruel stories about Kavindi and her friends are doing the rounds, as are explanations that all this hype is a plot to discredit the premier Buddhist private girls’ school in the country.

Are we ready to leave the resolution of the huge questions raised about our education system and about the way young adolescents and children should be nurtured, which Kavindi’s tragic loss has brought to the forefront, to a police inquiry and a judicial process that will take years and finally end up being inconclusive? As this editorial is being written there is widespread agitation in the Angulana area because two youth have been killed, allegedly by the police because they were teasing some girls. This allegation may or may not be true, but anyone in this country today who accepts the bona fides of the police needs to have his head examined. And so the charade will go on, since the courts depend on the police to provide evidence and assist in prosecutions. Small wonder that there is no likelihood of conviction in any of the murder or rape cases involving politicians or policemen!

Clearly the Minister of Education and his minions have no idea which end is up either. The Minister’s knee-jerk response of banning mobile phones in schools addresses neither the immediate problem nor the useful role such phones play if used strictly within reasonable rules and procedures. For instance, as is the case in many schools, if mobile phones are switched off during school-hours they do not cause any disruption and they become useful to keep parents and children informed about delays, security and other emergencies etc.

Though the misuse of mobile phones may be among the contributing factors in this terrible tragedy and though there is certainly a general craziness in the way teenagers use these phones, what is required is not a complete ban but the enforcement of the rule prohibiting their use while school is in session. No one can deny that in certain contexts mobile phones can be very useful, even life-saving — even in this case had it been used to contact the parents immediately. The Ministry, it is clear, wants the problem to go away, so that business can proceed as usual.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is also explicit about the way schools should function. Article 28 holds that “State parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity and in conformity with the present Convention.” We are in clear violation of this Article, Mr Minister, and have been in violation for as long as I can remember. For Kavindi’s loss not to have been an utter waste, surely this opportunity can be seized to address issues such as corporal punishment in schools, humiliation and degradation of students, and most importantly, impunity, through ensuring that the authorities at Musaeus are held accountable for their actions?

Sri Lanka is infamous the world over for its specious logic and deliberate nurturing of red herrings. Our current regime has crafted doublespeak into a fine art. We have learned to obfuscate real issues in favour of trivial details, to attack others as the best form of defence. But in the case of Kavindi we must not let this happen if we have an ounce of collective conscience left in our bereaved national culture, a modicum of decency left in our degenerate composite soul. Though we have become a bunch of cowards and sycophants in the face of the systematic erosion of our rights, let’s demonstrate to the world and ourselves that on a clear, safe, non-political issue such as this we are able to stand up and be counted. Let’s demand justice for Kavindi and through this ensure that she will be the last Lankan student to die as a result of teachers becoming torturers who use humiliation as a means of enforcing discipline.