Will the abolition of corporal punishment mean a decline in future civilization?

Sep 23, 2012 News

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By Rehana Ashley Ahamad

Corporal Punishment is something that has been much debated in homes, schools, among neighbours, friends, and now, at the highest meeting in the land, the National Assembly.
I took the initiative to speak with a few elderly persons on the streets of Georgetown, and they highlighted something very interesting.
Years ago, students were petrified to face the wrath of their teachers, and would ensure they did their homework assignments; they would even strive to be respectful in classrooms, so as to prevent their teachers from using their “bamboo whip”.
“In them days, teachers were in charge, but now, more and more teachers getting a thrashing by them students,” former teacher Desrey Phillips said.
The woman added that “there used to be a time where any elderly person could have disciplined a child from their village and they would have to listen, but now, a child would pass by and curse at you for walking too slow”.
Phillips is also of the view that, should we move to abolish corporal punishment, we just might find ourselves stuck in the present situation which, might I add, will most likely escalate into something ugly. One teacher has already lost her baby.
Some even view the elimination of corporal punishment as the first step in advocating for the decline of civilization.
Persons have said that if the tool of corporal punishment is “snatched” from teachers, they may not have any other “effective” way to discipline students.
A man who claims to be a Preacher and a former teacher, had much to say.
He said that “there are bad students, disobedient ones, and beyond rude ones; there are bullies, but not the kind of school bullies we had back in the days. These are now big men and women. Bullyism in schools is now at a dangerous level. Children have knives and all sorts of weapons that they walk around with in schools; ice-pick is the most popular these days”.
The man added, “I have had firsthand experience that some even do drugs in schools. That is something the Education Ministry should launch an undercover investigation into”.
He went on to point out that High School students, especially the “big men”, are more well-known at “marijuana junctions” than in libraries.
“Before we move to take away corporal punishment from schools, we need to revise what is best for the students themselves. Our children while in schools are exposed to delinquents, who very much need guidance. I remember just a few months ago where students were being murdered by their fellow students one after the other,” the father of three added.
Many parents are of the opinion that their children should be punished for misbehaviour, while others were skeptical about having “other people” hit their child or children.
“I don’t have a problem with a teacher hitting my child if she misbehaves, but that teacher has to have good reasons for hitting my child. I cannot have somebody abuse my child.
I don’t want her to have bruises and marks, that’s all,” Kamlawattie Chandralall of Mon Repos said.
Another parent noted that she has had bad experiences with teachers hitting her child to the point where her palms bled, and would never want to go back to that.
General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Coretta McDonald, noted that corporal punishment should be neither abolished nor abused.
“Corporal punishment should be legal, and manned by very strict laws, so as to ensure that teachers do not abuse that privilege,” McDonald said.
She explained that there are many aspects of corporal punishment.
“There is kneeling down, being sent outside the classroom, suspension, expulsion, lashes, and the list goes on.”
Mc Donald said that teachers need to be given some form of authority in the classrooms, as they are also saddled with the responsibility of creating good respectable citizens, since the majority of Guyanese parents have jobs.
She also explained that in today’s society parents do not have the time to even know what their children are up to, much less to be able to discipline them.
Some students were all against the idea of corporal punishment being enforced.
Ricky Seeambar, former student of the Institute of Professional Studies in Grove, said that he would prefer teachers talk to the students, as many of them would be thrashed and still not mend their ways.
The matter is currently under consultation nationwide. The debates on corporal punishment, death penalties, and laws on homosexuality will continue next month when Parliament resumes.
In the meantime, some persons, especially the elderly folk, are hoping that National Assembly would not abolish the only disciplinary tool that teachers have.

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