If a teacher finds a problematic child in the class, what should he do?

Concept: Inclusive, child-centered pedagogy treats behaviour that appears "problematic" as a signal of an underlying emotional, social, cognitive, or environmental need rather than wilful misconduct. A teacher's professional response, consistent with the Right to Education Act's explicit ban on physical punishment and mental harassment (Section 17) and its broader child-friendly spirit, is to diagnose and address that underlying cause through supportive guidance — not through exclusion, neglect, or coercion.

Application: Here, providing counselling lets the teacher understand why the child is behaving this way and respond to the actual cause — an academic difficulty, a problem at home, or a social or emotional struggle — so the child can be supported and retained in the classroom.

Why the other responses fail:

• Sending the child home immediately removes them from the classroom without ever finding out what is wrong, denying them the support and continued schooling they need.

• Ignoring the child leaves the underlying need unaddressed, and an unaddressed behavioural or emotional need typically persists or worsens over time.

• Punishing the child treats only the visible behaviour through fear, which does not resolve the root cause and can further alienate the child, running against the child-friendly, no-corporal-punishment principle central to modern pedagogy.