Corporal punishments: Govt urged to protect children from abuse

SPARC writes to the K-P elementary and secondary secretary.


Express November 29, 2011

PESHAWAR:


Pakistan was the first among the 20 countries to ratify United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and according to Articles 19 and 37 of the UNCRC; it is the state’s responsibility to protect children from all kind of abuse and exploitation.


This was said by Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) Programme Manager Imran Takkar in a letter sent to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Elementary and Secondary Education secretary on Monday to draw the department’s attention towards the ordeal of a ninth-grade boy who was severely punished by his teacher for being absent from school after he had an appendicitis operation.

Takkar said that the government had prohibited corporal punishment in government schools on April 30, and that under Section 34 of the “Child Protection & Welfare Act 2010”, anyone found guilty of corporal punishment may be imprisoned for a period of six months with a fine of up to Rs50,000.

He pointed out that Umar, a class six student from the same school, was also brutally punished by his teacher this May, due to which he got a seriously injury on his left eye.

Takkar requested the department to take immediate action.

He also sent a copy of the letter to the K-P Child Protection and Welfare Commission and Education Minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2011.

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