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Scolding children or even inflicting corporal punishment on them, especially as a pedagogical tool, is the norm in India, even though it has been argued, time and again, that this needs to be changed as each child has their own learning pace.
The video of a young girl being bullied by a woman during a study session, that Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan posted on their respective Instagram accounts this morning, hardly comes as a surprise, but makes for an uncomfortable watch.
In the roughly one-minute long clip, the girl is shown revising mathematics under the supervision of (presumably) her mother, and under extreme duress, is made to recite numbers up to 5. Failure is not acceptable, and the teary-eyed child is barely able to speak, such is her terror.
The fact that the pain and anger of the child is ignored and one’s own ego to make the child learn is so massive that compassion has totally gone out of the window. This is shocking and saddening to another dimension. A child can never learn if intimidated. This is hurtful.Virat Kohli on his Instagram account
Shikhar Dhawan called it “one of the most disturbing videos I have come across.” and stressed the need for parents to let their children become who they want to be, terming parenthood a privilege.
The video was first shared by Shikhar Dhawan’s wife, and by both Dhawan and Kohli thereafter.
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