The other side of corporal punishment

Nobody in the parliament has raised any eyebrow about the issues of obsolete textbooks and teacher absenteeism.


Najeeb Anjum March 15, 2013
The writer is an educationist. He is currently the principal of Sir Adamjee Institute in Karachi

Our parliamentarians hastily passed a bill banning corporal punishment in schools. Laws cannot be made in a vacuum, or in haste. I believe that the lawmakers neither consulted the views of teachers across the country nor debated the matter at length. They simply relied on sensational television reports portraying teachers as demons. Unfortunately, our rulers seem to be in the grip of populism and are trying to play to the gallery.

As a teacher and son of a teacher myself, I value the importance of corrective punishment and if this traditional right is taken away from teachers, it will bring more chaos to our dilapidated educational system. Something which is drastically wrong with our national psyche is that anyone mighty or in a place of authority is always thought to be wrong and the rest innocent. The truth is that as a nation, all of us possess double standards and mob mentality.

I vividly remember my days as a school-going lad at Government High School and Municipal High School Larkana, where we were subject to punishment on various offences. On late attendance, the drill teacher would assemble all defaulters in front of the headmaster’s office and the headmaster would slap five canes on each hand. Similarly, for each spelling mistake or failure to complete homework, the same treatment was meted out to us. Even any complaint by the gardeners or peons would lead us into trouble. Our teachers commanded such respect that if we were out on the streets engaging in juvenile pastime pleasures, we would vanish from the place upon learning of the teacher’s presence — obviously, on the information of the lookout posted for this purpose.

Based on my personal experience, both as a teacher and principal, it is the student who usually initiates the process of offending the teacher. The most common reasons for a teacher to avail corporal punishment are constant absenteeism, disruptive classroom behaviour, non-compliance with instructions, not completing homework and not bringing academic material to class.

Curiously enough, the collusion of parents with students aggravates the situation. Instead of reprimanding and disciplining their children, parents take sides. The teacher’s action is never impulsive; it is a reaction to the teacher feeling humiliated and after finding no recourse, resorting to manhandling as a last resort. I am not trying to defend any excesses committed by teachers on their students but unfortunately, we are looking at this issue with a jaundiced eye.

Like all other controversial laws, this bill, too, has the probability of being used as vendetta and to settle personal scores. Since a teacher is vulnerable, it is convenient to make him or her a scapegoat. I would have been happier if the intimidation of law-abiding citizens by armed thugs in black vehicles bearing government and civil number plates instead would have been declared unlawful.

There are more important issues which lawmakers should look into rather than taking up the politically expedient issue of corporal punishment. Nobody in parliament has raised an eyebrow at obsolete textbooks being used in schools and colleges — particularly, the English textbooks taught at the intermediate level. And, why is no law being enacted to curb the tendency of student absenteeism and, more importantly, teacher absenteeism?

Let us hope that we may see an educated parliament after the forthcoming elections as education is too serious a business to be left to the whims of non-serious and uneducated parliamentarians.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2013.

COMMENTS (24)

Okasha Iqbal | 11 years ago | Reply

I am sorry to say my teacher Mr Commander Najeeb Anjum that that report wasn't sensational. That report was based on facts. I am sorry to say that this is happening. I suffered from such sort of punishments when I was in School. Punishment that tortures a student. Sir with all due respect, when you were in a school, the time was different and students were thristy for knowledge and education but today's students is different. His main objective is to earn money and change the lifestyle. Student knows one way of success and that is "ratta" and they fail when they practically do the thing. I have also suffered with such punishments on late coming, homework etc. Nowadays, a responsible student does his homework. I think there is no force on the earth that makes an unresponsible student to do his homework. I agree to you that parliamentarians should do something about this old textbooks. This is a most important matter as compare to corporal punishment and that's the reason we have descoveries nowadays in Science or computer. Government should replace these books to advance text books. Books must be creative so that the thinking of students get creative.

Okasha Iqbal | 11 years ago | Reply

Well, corporal punishment bill is in my opinion is a good one because students come to school or college to learn something not get punishment and when they get punishment by their teachers, they pick from their teachers that for the acceptance of your opinion, you need to beat your students or children and they do the same thing to their elder brothers and sisters. Young boys are already very cruel nowadays in Pakistan. So, this makes them more cruel. As far as I am concern, a student respects his/her teacher when teacher respects him/her. I think we have no right to be respected by teacher but nowadays, students are egomaniacs and when they get beaten by their teachers, they feel embarrassment and they run away from education. Corpol punishment bill also exists in America and other countries then why are their students better than our's? If punishment makes a man better, then criminals must be the best people in the world because they are beaten mercilessly in jails but they are same after prison. I think this is a good initiative by our government and all credit goes to Shahzad Roy.

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