Physical Injuries:
There is no standard in meting out physical punishment to children. Whether mild, moderate, or severe, all forms of corporal punishment are disallowed. Many a times, children suffer from major injuries, which require medical attention and treatment. The tools that adults’ employ like steel rods, sticks, belts etc., in punishing the child, leaves him or her moaning in pain and blood trickling profusely from injured parts. Moreover, many children have lost their lives in battling the pain inflicted by such punishments. Others have been left physically impaired.
In Pakistan, the situation is alarming. Children and women are indiscriminately tortured and physically injured with ease. Categorized as a personal and domestic matter, they are not taken to hospitals for proper treatment and when the situation grows worse then only are they commuted to nearby medical centers to provide medical help. This further exacerbates the physical pain and recovery of the injured.
According to a study covering parents and teachers at 600 primary schools in the Frontier Province in 1998, 70 reports of serious injury arising from corporal punishment was recorded. A child recently died in Chakwal after he was beaten by his school teacher.
Psychological injuries:
Corporal punishment may appear to have short-term advantages in the sense that adults can secure immediate compliance but the long-term effects are precarious to the development of the child. Research findings have pointed out the correlation between corporal punishment and depression, low self-esteem, lack of confidence and deteriorating relationships with parents, teachers and adults. Many adults who have been physically punished as children may say in defense that they did not develop any psychological trauma or problems as such. However, the fact that the child cannot retaliate likewise, the anger and frustration is harbored and there are several ways in which the victimized child unleashes his resentment of the adult-act. Bullying peers, depression, anxiety, low self esteem, impatience, anti-social behavior, aggressiveness etc., in a child, all in one way or the other is linked to corporal punishment.
Teachers who punish children publicly before the rest of the class also become the target of other children, which in turn further aggravates the child’s negative psychological effects and social behavior.
Damage to children’s education:
Corporal punishment in schools is often associated with wider fundamental problems in the education system. In majority of the schools in the rural as well as in the urban areas, children are indiscriminately exposed to physical punishment in the name of discipline. The teacher does not sense a feeling of remorse or guilt because it is so deeply rooted in the culture of rearing a child in our society that even in case of extreme brutality reported, higher authorities fail to take concrete action. Most parents also support and reinforce teachers’ actions to correct children behavior.
Corporal punishment is also cited as one of the major reasons for the high drop out rate. In Pakistan, a survey was conducted in 1999 and it was found that 15% of students between the ages of 10-18 who have ever attended primary schools have dropped out. Corporal punishment was cited to be the most common reason for students to drop out from school.
Punishing children before peers, teachers and others leaves the child, humiliated, abashed and helpless. Moreover, children expressed that they were less noisy and more obedient in those classes where the teacher was more loving and did not resort to physical punishment than those teachers who did. Teachers, who pose to be strict and for this purpose take refuge of the stick to discipline children, are harming the development of the child. Such children are not encouraged to think for themselves and ask questions. They are simply passive recipients of knowledge and are forced to conform to whatever the teacher tells them to do. Thus, children’s creative skills are suppressed and their ability to explore dies out.
Sending out the wrong message:
The strongest, but unintentional, message that corporal punishment sends out is that it is all right for a stronger person to coerce a weaker person. The child grows to think that violence is acceptable behavior in settling conflicts and disputes. Thus, corporal punishment generates a cycle of violence. The child grows to accept that corporal punishment is a normal affair in the upbringing of children and there is no better way of disciplining children.
|
