Dear Editor,
Our children are our most precious assets. They are the future leaders of our country. As such they ought to grow up and be nurtured in an environment of love, care and compassion.
It is in this context that the issue of corporal punishment should be viewed. As child psychologists and early childhood development practitioners know only too well, the use of corporal punishment does more harm than good to the child. It interferes with their normal growth and development and can have lasting negative effects on the child’s mental and emotional growth.
This is why most experts in the area of child development and child rights organisations including UNICEF are strongly opposed to the use of corporal punishment in schools.
As a former school teacher and someone associated with education delivery and management over the years, I wish to respectfully call on the relevant authorities to initiate legislative and administrative action to end corporal punishment in schools. This incidentally is consistent with what obtained in most countries in North America, Europe and several other countries in the developing world.
The time is long overdue for this rather primitive method of child control to be brought to an end. Teachers needed to be trained and re-oriented in alternative methods of class control and behavioural management rather than through recourse to the “rod of correction”.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
