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The numerical ‘2’ is inverted, making it look almost like ‘5’; ‘4’ is written upside down; and ‘3’ changes shapes all through. The first page of Shanno Khan’s Mathematics notebook is a revelation: the 11-year-old, who died on Friday, allegedly a victim of corporal punishment, was dyslexic.
All her teachers in the MCD school at Bawana knew Shanno wrote incorrectly but they were not trained to know that she needed special treatment.
“She was certainly dyslexic and needed special treatment,” confirmed Dr Jayanti Dutta, consultant clinical psychologist and a doctorate in dyslexia, after looking at Shanno’s writing. “She would have skipped letters without knowing and could not have recited answers fluently. She was dyslexic.”
Newsline has a copy of her notebook.
Shanno’s classmates have said that the teacher, Manju Rathee, 27, made her stand in the sun for almost two hours on Wednesday afternoon with bricks on her shoulders. Shanno had reportedly failed to offer correct answers in class that had left the teacher irate. Sources said the postmortem — the police are yet to get a report (see box) — suggests Shanno, who was epileptic and had a history of lung and respiratory problems, developed complications after the punishment.
She slipped into coma, and died on Friday.
“Municipal school teachers never go through the necessary rigorous training necessary for teachers, especially in dealing with issues like learning disability,” Dutta said. “We have conducted numerous workshops about dyslexic children at private schools but MCD schools are never interested in such workshops.”
Delhi’s Education Secretary Reena Ray said, “We did not know that she was dyslexic.” She said the Delhi government would soon begin several initiatives under its ‘Yuva’ programme, in collaboration with social jurist Ashok Aggarwal. The programme would deal with training teachers to handle children with special needs, such as autistic children.
“We have already employed 50 special educators who will teach in our schools,” Ray said. “We will also send teachers for a three-month programme to the Rehabilitation Council of India to sensitise them about handling such special cases.”
Jurist and social activist Ashok Aggarwal met Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely on Tuesday and demanded that all municipal schools be brought under the ambit of the Delhi government.
Meanwhile, inside the small hutment in Bawana where Shanno lived, her notebooks lie in a polythene bag under a heap of strewn clothes. Her English alphabet notebook has the same jumbled and wrongly drawn alphabets. “She did not get any books because the school had just started. There are only her notebooks here,” Shanno’s mother Rihana Khatoun said.
Shanno’s slightly bended drawing book is stacked at the bottom. On the first few pages are some random drawings of a sun rising above the mountains. She had misspelt her name on the book as well.
For Shanno, dyslexia was not a film narrative — it cost her her life.
Day 4: Cops await autopsy report
Four days after her death, police are still waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain whether Shanno Khan, 11, was a victim of corporal punishment. “We spoke to some of her classmates today,” a senior officer said. “But we cannot further our probe without the autopsy report.” Sources said there is a delay as blood samples are being taken and matched.
Police have so far recorded statements of Shanno’s parents and the teacher accused of meting out the corporal punishment, Manju Rathee.
Meanwhile, the MCD’s vigilance department issued a statement on Tuesday denying media reports that it has given a clean chit to the teacher. An official said, “There is no question of a clean chit to the teacher, or reaching any conclusion, since the vigilance department is yet to submit the report.”
Over 100 protesters, mainly women, today staged a demonstration outside the Delhi Police headquarters at ITO and sought the teacher’s arrest.
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There is no argument on the fact that Shanno’s merciless teacher needs sever
Whether Shanno had dyslexia or why do people in India whether parents or teachers think that they have the right to punish kids to such an extent? lack of education on violense against women and children and lack of policing and punishing such behaviour. Please dont excuses for Shannos teacher a she was there to teach and not punish the child. In India people treat children as commodities or trophies depending on whihc social class one belongs to. This needs to stop even in any of the holy scriptures there is not mention of such a punishment. This kind of punishment is violense and it needs to be stopped now and once and for all. Just because teachers are in a position of authority there dont have the lisence to abuse this authority. This teacher needs to be tought a massive lesson so that no other teacher in India would dare to mate out such a punishment to any child and no parent would beat or touch a child in a violent way. This goes against all decent behaviour in any society. Is this India Shining? This is a disgrace and every teacher who abuses children should be mandatorily sentenced to 5 years in jail and terminated permanently. I had a teacher in school who would hit us with a wooden ruler with the edge of it on the knuckles every time we made a mistake. She was a sadist witch and the memory of this has scarred me for life even though today I am far more educated than she ever was or far more successful than she would hope to be. Such monsters are not fit to be called teachers society to shun then simialr to child molesters as these people are nothing but sick in the head and abusive creatures
I dont think there any teachers out there to identify the special needs and stuff like that. Dyslexia is out in the open only because of taare zameen par. God knows how many other things like this are out there without any of us knowing it.
Most (not all, but most) women are sadist in some way. Teachers (men and women) are no more teachers but machines to generate good results for the schools, human touch is lost, affection to their students and the noble profession is lost. They strike for their benefits (they should) but at the cost of the students future (they shouldn't). They strike their students not for the students sake but to finish off their anger. High time we change the designations.Parents want children capable to make money whatever might happen in schools. Good schools are those with high pass percentage (where is charecter building?).I apologise to the very few noble teachers (who will defenitely agree with me) and forgive my comments as not against them.
I offer my conloance to the family of Shanno, but dyslexic or not, no teacher has the right to punish a child to such extent, the teacher should be imprisoned and case filed against her for criminal negligence. she should be given the harshest of punishments for such inhumane act.
Whatever said and Done.... we are still in Stone Age. PUNISH that TEACHER. Terminate her and put her Behind bars for a couple of years. This will be a lesson to other similar teachers. This is not Punishment. This is Torture. She should be working for ISI.
I feel very sad and sorry for the death of Shanno. I pray for her soul to rest in peace.This is the biggest mistake done in our Indian education system. Go to any abroad schools the way of educating in school is just way different from India.If one is suffering from dyslexia then it should be the responsibility of school to spend more time and devotion for such students. It is also the responsibility of parents to learn the system of educating dyslexia sons or daughters. No one born is a Isac Newton or a scientist.She had every right to learn but this is not the way of punishing a student just because she is not capable. Please watch the movie "Tare Zameen Par" it is a good movie.
The school education system needs a thorough review and training of all the individuals handling delicate minors. This woman Manju was not only untrained she was also sadistic and enjoyed punishing a venerable kid.It's disappointing to see inaction and apathy on part of law enforcement and school authorities.Every day innocent kids get punished in schools. What kind of education is this where students are treated brutally, instead of being cared for? The argument that this has continued through generations and can not change is fallacious.It's time to not follow bad traditions and evolve towards a better tomorrow by treating the future generation with love and care. Adults need to grow up and think before they act and face the consequences of their actions. Accountability for adult behavior is the only way to bring quality in the system.