Punishing The Weak
By Zia Ur Rehman
15 June,
2008
Countercurrents.org
In Vehari, May 2008, a madrassa teacher has been accused of torturing a blind student to death for not learning his lessons. According to news report, the teacher brutally beat up the seven-year-old Atif and then tied up his feet with a ceiling fan hook and hanged him upside down, the boy died after some time and his family found marks of severe beating on his body.
In Hyderabad, Jan 2008, a 14-year old boy died at Civil Hospital. He was severely beaten up by his school teacher at a public school. According to details, the teacher had beaten the boy with a stick and asked two students to tie his hands. Then the teacher ordered the boy to sit and stand up for 100 times which caused pain in the boy's belly.
In Muzaffargarh, March 2007, 24 children was held against their will at a madrassa and were rescued by the police after one boy escaped and made a complaint. According to HRCP's report, some to the children reportedly had been tortured, others sodomised
In Lahore, Feb 2007, a government high school teacher broke a girl student's right metacarpal bone with a cane because the girl was not wearing the correct school uniform.
These examples of corporal punishment are common practice in schools and madrassas prevailing in Pakistan, not only in rural areas but also in metropolitan cities. Corporal punishment is an important issue that has not been taken up comprehensively by the civil society yet.
Corporal punishment is defined as the use of physical force for the purpose of correcting a child's behavior, discipline, and control or in the belief of educating/bringing up the child. It is an act by which adults inflict pain to the child so that he or she is disciplined and the learning process is facilitated. Corporal punishment breaches the child's self respect, self-dignity, and physical integrity. The level and intensity of punishment varies according to the nature of the mischief and disobedience on part of the child. However, external factors like poverty, over stressed parents and teachers, underpaid and untrained teachers, unemployment and so on, also play an important role in aggravating the physical act of punishment in the name of discipline. Corporal punishment is an intentional infliction of physical pain following to misconduct or wrongdoing for the purpose of deferring future misconduct. It involves pinching, slapping, pulling ears, spanking, strapping, pushing, wrestling holds, cracking fingers with ruler, arm twisting and shaking, and in worse-case, resulting in death. As cases of corporal punishment are hardly reported, accurate data or statistics for such cases are not available with government agencies ,non-governmental organisations and child rights organisations. Both available statistical and anecdotal data show that corporal punishment is practiced in every society and that across the world millions of children are being punished physically and emotionally by their parents and teacher or those who are charged with their care.
United Nations Funds for Children (UNICEF) and other child rights organisations are consistently calling upon the government to end corporal punishment and the legal provisions in the country's law that permit it. The UN convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) explicitly protects children from all forms of physical violence (Article 19) and inhuman and degrading treatments or punishments (Article 37). It requires school discipline to be "consistent with the child's human dignity and in conformity with the present convention" (Article 28.2).
According to UNICEF global databases, 2007, based on national surveys in 29 countries, 2005-2006, violent methods of child discipline are widespread. In 29 countries and territories surveyed, an average of 86 per cent of children aged 2-14 experienced violent discipline at home; in almost every one of these countries more than half of the children have been violently disciplined and one in five children has experienced severe physical punishment. Another report 'Safe Schools: Every Girl's Right" published by Amnesty International, shows how violence in and around educational institutions remains pervasive. The report states at school, many girls face psychological violence, bullying and humiliation. Some are caned or beaten in school in the name of discipline. Girls are threatened with sexual assault by other students, offered higher marks by teachers in exchange for sexual favours, and even raped in the staff room.
Only 23 countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Chile etc, have completely banned corporal punishment But there are 106 -- including many places where it was common only a generation ago -- which have put a stop to corporal punishment in schools.
Corporal punishment is used in all socio-economic settings. In most countries, children from the poorest households are as likely to experience violent punishment as children from the richest households; children living in rural areas are as likely to experience violent punishment as children living in cities.
Sadia Baloch, the regional manager of Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child (SPARC), Karachi, told TNS that according to a UN report the drop-out rate in Pakistan is 50 per cent which is higher then other countries in the world, corporal punishment is one of the major causes. "You should know that article 89 of Pakistan Penal code 1860(XLV) empowers parents, teachers and other guardians to use corporal punishment as a means to discipline and correct the behavior of under-12 children. However such punishment is required to be moderate and reasonable," she said. Baloch added that in case the punishment inflicts serious injuries as defined in section 319 (hurt) and 320 (grievous hurt)of the PPC, then the adult can be booked under section 323 and 325 of the PPC respectively and can be penalised and imprisoned for it. Following a sustained campaign by SPARC, corporal punishment is now prohibited in the govt. schools in the NWFP since Dec 2003, and in Punjab and Sindh since Sept 2005. SPARC strongly condemns all types of violence against children and is working to include child right in the syllabus.
Dr Sabir Jadoon, president of The Slummer Welfare Organisation agrees that corporal punishment is the main reason behind the high school drop-out rate in Pakistan. "We demand repeal of Section 89 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that allows parents, teachers and guardians to punish their child and urged the government to prepare a code of ethics for teachers. The school administration policy should have a monitoring component to check corporal punishment and the government should have its own monitoring mechanism for at least public schools," he said. Jadoon also cited the report of The Pakistan Pediatric Association (PPA) which revealed that over 88 percent of school-going children reported suffering physical abuse.
Aimal Khan, Advocacy Coordinator of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, opined that inadequate teacher training, the lack of legislation banning corporal punishment and the perception that it must be used to teach children, are all factors behind the widespread existence of corporal punishment. It is needed to increase visibility of corporal punishment as a child right's violation. He also stressed to end the social acceptance of corporal punishment.
(The writer is London-based Reseacher. Email [email protected])
This article has previously published in The News International.
