In spite of the Sindh government’s efforts to check oppressing methods in the teaching process as well as its condemning teachers punishing their students, corporal punishment still exists at educational and religious institutions to instil a sense of discipline in young students.
Sometimes the thrashing is so ruthless that it leaves lasting physical and mental effects on the children, but teachers continue employing these barbaric methods on their students.
According to an estimate by the National Commission on Human Development, gross enrolment rate in schools is 70 percent, but almost 50 percent of the children drop out of schools before reaching the fifth standard. Only one-third of the remaining students complete primary education and corporal punishment is one of the major reasons behind the drop-outs, laments the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC).
SPARC Provincial Manager Suhail Ahmed Abro said that besides educational and religious institutions, children are facing cruel treatment in all other settings, such as their homes, at their workplaces or anywhere else in the community.
“Home is thought to be a secure place for children, but we have observed that most of the cases of abuse and punishment occur in their homes,” added Abro.
He said that SPARC monitored and intervened in 56 cases of corporal punishment at educational institutions in 2010, and these cases were reported in the media. However, he added, there were 61 cases of corporal punishment at a madrassa in Karachi the following year. Abro said that corporal punishment exists in all settings and that an end to this practice should be put through administrative and legislative measures.
Therefore, he added, to capture the attention of the key decision makers, SPARC called a consultative meeting, which was attended by representatives of the Law Department, the Education Department, the Labour Department, the Social Welfare Department, the Directorate of Private Education and the civil society. They recommended that the legislation process on Sindh Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill should be expedited.
They said that the bill was pushed by the Education Department and forwarded to the chief minister for approval in 2011, and that it should now be brought to the provincial assembly for further process. Sensing the gravity of the matter, Abro said that Section 89 of the Pakistan Penal Code provides immunity to any action taken for the welfare of the children, but unfortunately, corporal punishment is said to be used for the welfare of the children.
Hence, he said, our legal system contains ambiguities that should be removed, and being a special law, the current bill would have an overriding effect over the general law.
Therefore, he added, to provide protection to children in all settings, the government would have to show signs of seriousness in bringing the bill to the assembly.
