Corporal punishment is the most common form of violence committed against children. It has widely been proved that it is not an effective means to bring about positive changes in children’s attitudes and behaviours in society. Rather, it may often cause serious long-term and permanent health hazards. Still, it continues to be practiced almost all over the world.

Against this backdrop, a special day titled ‘The International Day to End Corporal Punishment’ is observed on 30th April every year in order to promote non-violent child rearing and advocate for the protection of children from violent forms of punishments.

This day offers us an opportunity to support all child victims of corporal punishment and call for better and faster protection of children. Corporal punishment poses a considerable threat to children’s physical health while it may also cause them cognitive and behavioural problems, aggression, depression, etc.

Yet, as researchers suggest, 86% of the world’s 2.2 billion children are not legally protected from this heinous practice.

The past education scene of our country exposes that the teachers were highly dedicated to their profession even though they did not have sufficient professional training.  It was as if their professional commitments and integrity gave them some sort of moral right to punish their pupils while teaching.

This was even accepted in society as many guardians thought that without the fear of corporal punishments, their children could not be good human beings. However, in those days, relevant thoughts, research, or observations were scarcely available to ascertain the negative impact of physical punishment on kids. Thus it stood as a tradition.

However, it is really dissatisfying that a portion of today’s teachers have inherited the tendency and still want to carry it out without considering the tremendous changes that have taken place over time in teaching styles, students’ psychology and behaviour, teacher-student relationships etc. thanks to globalisation.

It may be that how the teachers of the educationally advanced countries behaved with their pupils remained almost unknown to the teachers of the other parts of the world in those days, but it is no more so today.

Meanwhile, it is a matter of optimism that some sixty-five countries have already banned corporal punishment and the latest one among them is Mauritius. Besides, UNICEF has also been creating content and sharing inspiring examples of teachers who have found positive discipline methods much better at engaging students in their learning.

In Islamabad, Pakistan, corporal punishment was recently banned in formal and informal educational institutions. Their parliamentary child rights caucus is also planning to create awareness regarding new laws passed in the parliament.

In the meantime, Ethiopian School Readiness Initiative (ESRI), a non-profit organisation in Ethiopia, is promoting early child care and education, discussing positive child discipline with teachers and parents. ESRI and collaborators have published the results of a survey of parental methods of disciplining children in Ethiopia and have developed and adapted a parent training manual in the eight most common languages of the country that calls appreciation.

Our court has banned corporal punishment in our educational institutions but social media posts sometimes reveal that minor children are often being beaten mercilessly which needs to be stopped once and for all.

Any corporal punishment violates children’s right to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity, and their rights to health, development, education and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

I served in cadet colleges where manhandling is prohibited. However, those children have to face some sort of physical punishment at times but they are not the same as seen in the civil institutions. Cadets have to undergo punishment in the military style such as extra drills, crawling, front roll, frog jump etc.

Though these types of punishments are considered as physical exercise, care needs to be taken in this area as well. Numerous researches in the world show that there is no connection between corporal punishment and the development of certain patterns of behaviour and the structure of a child's personality.

Governments of many countries have been committed to ending violence against children by 2030, but corporal punishment continues to blight billions of children’s lives worldwide. Only one in seven children globally is protected by laws against corporal punishment.

Finally, it is usual that teachers often struggle to keep their mental state cool as they undergo excessive workloads. Apart from that, the unruly behaviour of the students and the large size of the class in some cases put them into serious stressful situations. Things like these often compel them to resort to punishing the students physically.

Hence, they should not forget that physical and mental punishments affect a child’s brain development and emotional wellbeing, which can lead to long-term mental health issues. There is overwhelming evidence that corporal punishment is responsible for increased anti-social behaviours and aggression among youngsters, which is dangerous for society. So, teachers need to enhance their stress management capacity so that they can effectively deal with students in a sound and accepted manner.
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The writer is the President, English Teachers’ Association of Bangladesh.
Email: [email protected]