Sit-ups (punishment)

The sit-ups punishment (Uthak Baithak) is a form of punishment given in schools of Indian subcontinent, specially in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. In this punishment, one has to sit down and stand up continuously and count the number of sit-ups. Students do sit-ups while holding their ears with their hands. It is common in schools. For humiliation, it is done in front of other students.

Variants

Simple Situps

The punished student will do situps holding his or her ears.The hands should be ninety degrees with the body. Also he or she has to count loudly with every step, or say a certain phrase. If the count is not hearable the term will repeat. Every term he or she has to sit fully so that his or her bottom touches the heels and to stand straight and if it is not so, he or she will have to start from the beginning. Inability to complete the prescribed number of situps could result in the student being caned by the punisher.

Criss-Cross Ear holding

The punished student will hold his/her left ear with right hand and right ear with left hand and do sit ups(In back of head) . This may cause hardness, pain and humiliation to the punishment. It is widely implemented and also will have to this continuous.

Pairing Situps

There will be more than one punished and they will hold ears of one another and do the situps. This makes the punishment more hard as the punished have to take weight of the other. Also criss-cross ear holding can be applied here. Then it will be much harder to complete.

Situps touching heels

It is also variant used with the simple situps. Here the punished's heels should touch one another. This will cause friction between the knees for that he/she can fall. Criss-cross ear holding can be applied here..

Doing sit up in sun

Doing situps in the sun is very hard to perform. There can be any form of sit ups as holding ears and doing, cris cross ear holding, heel touching or pairing sit ups or all

Timed sit up

This is very severe can be imposed to force the punished to do situps non-stop with no or minimal rest. This can be combined with any of the above forms. if punished is failed to complete the prescribed number of situps in given time, he/she has to start the punishment from beginning over again .The timer can be set as below for prescribed numbers of situps. 30—only 45 second 50—less than 2 minutes 100—less than 4 minutes 200—less than 9 minutes 250—less than 12 minutes 300—less than 14 minutes 400—less than 19 minutes 500—less than 30 minutes ( very severe) And 1000–1hour and 15 minutes only ( very very severe)

Timer can be set as below for prescribed number of situps. 30—less than 1 minutes 50—less than 2 minutes and 30 second. 100–5 minutes. 200–12 minutes. 300–20 minutes. 400–30 minutes. 500–45 minutes. 1000–2 hours.

Continuous non-stop sit-ups

He/She has to do sit-ups non-stop and continuously (strictly monitored and caned to avoid any cheating, (slow down or stopping) )until the punisher feels he/she has suffered sufficiently and instructed to stop.It is a very painful punishment. (Minimum 200 situps)

Incremental sit-ups

Adding additional number of sit-ups for every mistake made. Not speaking loudly enough - Repeat term/Restart, +5 sit-ups. Hands not perpendicular to the body - Restart, +30 sit-ups. Incorrect movement - Restart, +50 sit-ups. Slowing down - Restart, +200 sit-ups. Not complete when times up - Restart from opening the cloths, +10-200 sit-ups.

When doing these, no extra time is awarded, so if too many mistakes are made the task can become impossible feasibly. For this it is recommended to add a certain barrier that lowers the number if crossed.

'Science Behind This'

According to a study published in International Journal of Science and Consciousness,^[1] this is a type of exercise proven to improve cognitive function of the brain and its development when the children do sit-ups holding their ears in criss-cross manner. This is an exercise for brain to improve memory. In ancient days of India, this exercise used to be prescribed to students in the form of a punishment when they commit mistakes. In vedic culture, students were given punishments which eventually benefit them with physical and psychological development.

Health risks

In 14 October 2022 a student from Gujarat was hospitalized after doing 200 situps as a punishment.^[2]

References

^ Evidence based study on super brain yoga and itsapplication on alpha E.E.G. in adolescence
^ IANS. "Gujarat school student hospitalised after 200-sit-up punishment". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2023-08-20.

"Exercise improves memory acquisition and retrieval in the Y-maze task: Relationship with hippocampal neurogenesis" (PDF). University of Groningen. 2006-12-12.
"Uthak-Baithak (Sit-Ups) Punishment". MythologicalFact. 2018-02-25.
"Voices of Girls and Boys to end Violence Against children in South and Central Asia". Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. Archived from the original on 2014-10-25.
"Students forced to do sit-ups on road". The Times of India. 2013-09-03.

[1] Evidence based study on super brain yoga and itsapplication on alpha E.E.G. in adolescence

[2] IANS. "Gujarat school student hospitalised after 200-sit-up punishment". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2023-08-20.

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