‘Violence at schools begets violent society’

PEF partnering with NGO to launch drive against corporal punishment.

LAHORE:

Some 2,500 schools in the province partnered with the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) will set up complaint boxes and committees of students, parents and teachers as part of a drive to end corporal punishment in schools.

“Harsh punishments cause a number of dropouts in government schools,” said PEF chairman Raja Muhammad Anwar. He said there was a misperception that beating children was socially acceptable. “This actually promotes violence in society,” he said.

The PEF signed a deal with Plan International, a non government organisation working for child rights, on May 11 to give technical support for the programme.

Schools in the programme will set up complaint boxes where students can anonymously post written complaints against teachers that punish them physically. A committee of students, teachers and parents will be formed to consider the complaints. A teacher from each school will be trained to educate children about their rights and how to file complaints against teachers. Senior students will help younger students write applications. Plan International will also host seminars and poster competitions to raise awareness among children about their rights.

Anwar said many of Pakistan’s problems were linked to violence in schools. “Making someone do what you want them to do is what has led our nation to suicide bombings, which, like corporal punishment, is a form of punishment for those who don’t do what others want them to. The students lose confidence and prefer telling a lie than the truth, thus becoming part of our ignorant society,” he said.

He said that students often feared complaining about violence by their teachers or parents because “it is the norm in our society that the weak   like minorities, women and kids – are ignored. There should also be action against parents who beat their kids at home,” he said.

Syed Safdar Raza of Plan International said his was the first NGO working on a campaign to eliminate corporal punishment in schools in Pakistan. “We’ll invite senior teachers from every school to help devise this system of redress. There will be a student body that will inform the PEF if there is any violation of child-rights in schools. Our mission is to raise the standards of our school to the international level in this respect,” he said. The NGO started campaigning against corporal punishments in schools a few years ago, coming up with the slogan ‘Maar Nahin Payar’.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2011.