EDITORIAL: Flanked by relevant government officials and the UNICEF Representative, Federal Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain formally introduced “Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act, 2021” last Thursday, banning physical punishment in public and private schools as well as religious seminaries and orphanages.
As the law’s title shows it took a while for the ministries concerned to formulate rules necessary for its implementation. Henceforth, any punishment in which physical force is used, intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light it may be, will invite exposure to liability for the perpetrators.
Teachers subjecting pupils to physical punishment or humiliating treatment could face minor or major penalties — depending, of course, on the degree of hurt caused — from censure, blocking of promotion or salary increment due, to retirement or removal from service.
Physical pain or degrading treatment aside from affecting learning outcomes can result in long lasting damage to a child’s emotional and mental health. Such children are more likely, according to behavioural scientists, to resort to aggressive conduct towards others in life. Corporal punishment is widely used in our schools and seminaries all over the country as a way of disciplining pupils.
There have been a few cases of them even landing in hospitals. Earlier this year, a 13-year-old student of a private school in Karachi was admitted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre with a fractured bone of his right hand. And in another deeply disturbing case a fifth-grade student of a private school was not only shamed for speaking Urdu rather than English in class, his face was smeared with black paint.
On the complaint of his father, the provincial Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions, after holding an inquiry into the ugly incident, suspended the school’s registration and also slapped a fine of Rs 100,000 on its management for allowing that to come to pass. The action is commendable, but there can be no compensation for the emotional hurt the traumatic experience may have caused the young person.
As important as the newly implemented law is, education being a provincial subject it is limited to the Islamabad Capital Territory. The provinces also need to follow suit. It is not enough, though, to have legal prohibition of physical punishment; effective protection from harsh penalizing treatment ought to be ensured in practice.
It is worth noting that in Sindh the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment law was passed way back in 2016. That has not stopped some aggressive people in schools and religious seminaries from causing physical pain or humiliation to students. There is need to create a better awareness about the problem. Civil society members also have to play a role in stopping severe punishments meted out to children not only by teachers but also abusive parents.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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