Corporal punishment

Teachers who practise corporal punishment in schools intend to reform children, but it produces the opposite effect. Instead of bringing improvement in children corporal punishment discourages them from paying attention to their studies and encourages aggressive behaviour and anti-social tendencies. This does not end with the recipient of such punishment because as he grows up he also inflicts physical pain on his own children. It also shows up in his aggressive behaviour in social interactions. The reason is, children follow examples set by elders. Examples, whether good or bad, are set from above and those below in the social hierarchy follow them.

In Pakistan, though there are laws forbidding corporal punishment in schools, incidents of teachers inflicting physical punishment on students keep on emerging at short intervals. Recently, a video surfaced on social media showing a student hung upside down and being beaten at a madrassa. The police arrested the teacher involved in the cruel act. The Special Branch of Police and the Counter-Terrorism Department, with the help of intelligence agencies, located the madrassa shortly after the footage of the act going viral on social media. The suspect, Noor Mohammed, was arrested at a seminary in Sadiqabad. Initial investigations suggested that the incident occurred during winter last year. Police officials said the seminary belonged to a man from Murree, who is placed on the Fourth Schedule: a list of individuals who are suspected of terrorism and/or spreading sectarian hatred.

Sometimes corporal punishment results in serious and permanent damage to children, causing even physical or cerebral paralysis.

Sindh is the only province in the country that in 2016 enacted a law banning corporal punishment in schools and seminaries and making it punishable. The law prescribes strict punishment and fine. K-P also has laws in place but there are issues in their implementation. In August 2018, the then federal information minister had announced that the government would bring in legislation to completely ban corporal punishment.