Our math teacher always moves around with a cane. He uses it on us for tiny mistakes. He also hurls abuses at us. He says there are blessings of 33 crore of Gods in his cane," says Urn1ila Rahman, a student of class X at a government high school in Dhaka.

Urn1ila goes on: "Once the math teacher even marked one of my correct answers wrong. As my mom went to him with the answer paper, he misbehaved with her. The next day he made me stand up on the school ground in public and caned me mercilessly, causing fever to me. And then I couldn't attend school for a week.'

Like Urmila, Nip un is also scared of his English teacher. The class VII student says, "I'm very weak in English, I make mistakes always. And our English teacher punishes us severely for mistakes. His punishments include pulling ears, shunting, hitting, getting kneel-down and canning. Our parents complained to the headmaster against him and he assured them of taking actions but nothing happened. So, we skip schools whenever we can."

About two and half years ago, Dipu, a student of Nayatola Government Primary School, died following barbaric torture by his teachers. He was severely caned by teacher Khorshedul Haque for not responding to the roll call. After that canning, Dipu forgot what he learnt. Khorshed caned him again for that. Dipu's ordeal was not over. Shahina Akter, the headmaster, also beat him up. As a result of the torture, Dipu died on July 12, 2005. Following a case filed by his parents, police arrested the two accused teachers.

The examples of such punishment are found in plenty. Newspapers carry such reports regularly.

Although there is a campaign against torture of students by their teachers, allegations also come from prominent schools.

Shah Mohammad Sagir, a guardian, says, "A teacher is like one's second father. Parents can only give a child the shape of a human being. It's the teacher who builds a child as a real human being. Hence, they need to earn the respect to be worshiped."

On September 2, 1990, Charter on Children's Rights was p'assed in the United Nations aiming to help flourish their talents and implement their rights. The implementation of the charter has been made compulsory in Bangladesh from September 2, 1991. Section 37 of the charter states no child will be subject to torture, punishment, cmelty, and inhuman and undignified behaviour.

Mehzabin Haque, associate professor of Dhaka University's Psychology department, says, "Teachers will have to be patient and sympathetic. The students must not feel the absence of love and care at schools. Teachers will have to make sure that children love them and feel safe with them. Without confidence in teachers, students lose interest in learning."

She says children face cruel bahaviour more in government schools, as the teachers have no fear of losing their jobs for their actions. During training, the teachers are taught how to behave with children. But, sadly they don't use it practically.

Asked how to prevent teachers from torturing students, Mehzabin says, "First, a teacher needs to understand the psychology of a student. He or she will have to be attentive to the needs of a child. A teacher must make sure that no one of hislher personal problems somehow affects the children."

She further says a teacher can blossom the talent of a child. Likewise, s/he can destroy a child's life. "The cruelty of a teacher is not only the obstacle to flourishing of a child's talent, but also the overall development of a child."

Iftekharul Haque, a senior officer of Scholastica School, says, in the present education system, there is no role of corporal punishment. If it is so the students will consider school nothing but a prison. If a student can't understand anything, a teacher should find out the reasons and act accordingly.

Rokhsana Sultana, programme coordinator of an NGO, 'Breaking the Silence', says, "When a child finds himself/herself in an adverse school atmosphere, it affects every aspect of his/her life. Even they may leave school. Though the government has banned the use of cane, it hasn't banned scolding, throwing a piercing look and other means by which children can be intimidated."

In 2006, News Network released a report on torture of children in different educational institutions. In that report, Ferdousi Parveen, a teacher of Teachers Training Centre (TTC), said although there is nothing about corporal punishment in the curricula, efforts are there in TTC to make teachers aware of this. According to her, it's not enough to include the issue of corporal punishment in the curricula rather everyone will have to be made aware of this.

Aklima Sultana, assistant teacher of Shaheed Bir Uttam Lt Anwar Girls School and College, says every teacher should have adequate knowledge about the UN's Charter on Children's Rights. Teachers must not forget teaching is a sacred profession and they will have to protect the sacredness of the profession.

She further says a teacher's objective should be to increase the thirst for acquiring knowledge among students by love not by corporal punishment. And a teacher must keep his/her cool with students all the time.