Let’s consign corporal punishment to the bin

The issue of corporal punishment in our schools, especially at the primary and second cycle levels, has been a long-standing one dating back to the pre-colonial era. Sadly, it is one area that remains untouched despite our much-touted civilisation.

Just last week, for instance, a teacher was reported to be in court for causing damage to the eye of a pupil. He was said to have been caning a pupil when the tip of the cane hit the eye of another pupil damaging it completely.

Such news items are becoming one too many and one can just imagine the embarrassment it is causing us among the comity of nations. The use of the cane by teachers is widespread across the country and though concerns have been raised over the adverse effects this mode of punishment has on pupils, the situation persists.

One would have expected that occasional attacks by parents and communities on such teachers would have made them rethink their actions but that has not been the case. Neither has it kicked the GES into serious action.

Both the caning and the attacks are unacceptable and must not be allowed in our contemporary society.

Some teachers even take pride in their dexterity with the cane rather than the chalk. Some have even made big names for themselves because they show no mercy when it comes to caning.

They would even go to the extent of soaking canes in kerosene so that the strokes would inflict maximum pain. The whole thing appears to be grounded in the biblical quotation, ‘’Spare the rod and spoil the child’’. It is sad to note that in some cases, pupils have abandoned the classroom for good because they are not able to bear the pain any longer.

And this state of affairs is not a one -off thing. From morning assembly to the classroom, “mental”, a maths drill gives some teachers the opportunity to inflict pain on pupils with the cane.

The teacher asks a mathematics question and even before the pupil attempts to open his or her mouth, the cane lands on any part of the body. By the time that lesson ends, the whole class is in tears and it is while the class is in this mood that the teacher gets to the board to explain the maths problem! I wonder if this kind of environment makes room for effective learning.

If for that day dictation is on the time-table then the pupils go through the same caning galore.

Sometimes I wonder why we don’t have a whole population of astronauts and rocket scientists if corporal punishment truly makes the student intelligent! That biblical injunction of sparing the rod and spoiling the child has been taken too much on the face value. It is an admonition to correct the child when he/ she goes wrong and cannot be corporal punishment which causes physical and psychological harm to children. That cannot be what the Bible means.

Assault and causing harm are not teaching

Adults into whose care children have been entrusted are hiding behind this verse to assault and cause harm to them while the education authorities seem to look on. It seems that teachers who are not happy with their jobs are the chief culprits.

Teaching is a calling and a teacher cannot be effective if he/she has no passion for his profession. Teaching should not be a shelter for those who are disappointed because they have not made it into their preferred professions.

Such teachers seem to visit their disappointment on pupils through violence such as corporal punishment.

For a society which claims to cherish children to look on while they are treated in this cruel manner is difficult to understand. For some adults, their reason is simple; they were caned as children so the tradition must go on. This is not acceptable because as we develop as a society, we should not allow things we find detrimental to our growth to continue.

Human Rights Watch

According to Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation, educational experts argue that the long-term costs of corporal punishment outweigh any short-term benefit gained. And the psychological effects of corporal punishment include producing children who are withdrawn, become substance abusers and their school work gets interfered with.

GES prohibits corporal punishment

The Ghana Education Service (GES)?does not allow corporal punishment. Mr Stephen Adu, a Deputy Director of the GES, told the Daily Graphic that “there is no law instituting caning in schools. It is only bad teachers who use the cane”.

He explained that the GES sanctioned other forms of punishment such as keeping the child in class during break to finish up his/her work and making sitting arrangements that facilitated supervision and prevented children from misbehaving.

In addition the GES advised teachers to review their teaching methods if they were not making the desired impact like paying the necessary attention to slow learners and giving them the necessary help, rather than caning them because they thought they are not doing well.

The problem, however, is that there is no sanction spelt out by the GES for teachers who use the cane. Mr Adu said the GES only encouraged people to report to it teachers they found doing so following which the service would look at the circumstances and prescribe follow-up action.

As it stands now, even though the GES prohibits corporal punishment, that form of punishment is still in vogue. We need to stop those teachers who continue to harm our children for life.

The GES is depending on society to make this happen but considering how some parents go to the extent of sending their children from home to school to be caned, I wonder how far we can get if we do not make laws that would prohibit the act too.

We cannot continue abusing and harming our children this way. We need to identify practical ways of ensuring that the teacher does not do what the GES does not approve of in order to protect the child. Corporal punishment must not be allowed both on paper and in deed.

Times have changed and we must change with the times for the better.