Abolition of corporal punishment blamed for poor performance

Since the scrapping of corporal punishment, a sense of despair seems to have taken over amongst teachers. Teachers claimed that discipline at schools has deteriorated and that their passion for teaching had been adversely affected since the decision to do away with corporal punishment has come into effect.

They said that the slogan "Maar Nahi Pyar" has taken a toll on the academic performance of students in the secondary school certificate (SSC) annual examination.

They said that teachers did not have a magic wand to instil education in a child’s brain. Teachers said that the children have become stubborn after the abolition of corporal punishment.

They said that over 10% of students do not do their homework. They said that it was time to revisit the slogan of "Maar Nahi Pyar” so that children could fear teachers and concentrate on their studies.

Teachers said that a shared policy should be introduced with the involvement of all stakeholders including parents, teachers and school administrators.

Sources said that this year, the education boards tightened paper marking and thousands of students could not make it to pass the Urdu subject.

Punjab Teachers Union President Shahid Mubarak, SES Teachers Union President Shafiq Bhalwalia, and Educators Association President Basharat Iqbal Raja told The Express Tribune that the Rawalpindi board's performance this year was unsatisfactory.

They said that it was most unbecoming on the part of Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas to blame teachers for the poor show of the students.

There will be a knee-jerk reaction if teachers or school administrators were targeted for the poor show of the students, they said. These teacher leaders said that the education ministry has to revise its policy. They said that the policy of promoting weak students should be done away with and the strength of classrooms should be made manageable.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2022.