Dear Editor,
In February 2015 two female students aged 13 and 15 were flogged with a cowskin whip by teachers at a school in the Rupununi. A report and video documentation of this corporal punishment were sent to the relevant ministries, and we understand that the teachers were charged and placed before the court in Lethem. It is with deep distress and outrage, therefore, that we have read in an SN letter that the teachers responsible for this flogging are back at school and that their case has been dismissed.
As we have said before, the continued use of corporal punishment in our schools is not only a violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child but is a violation of the spirit if not the letter of the constitution.
Children being hit and hurt by those stronger and more powerful than them reflects the inequality and discrimination in relationships that are the building blocks of violent societies and the opposite of what it really means to respect girls and boys as individual people and holders of human rights.
Research suggests that settings in which corporal punishment is prevalent tend to be settings in which partner violence is prevalent. 1989 analysis of data from more than 200 societies found that those in which corporal punishment was used were more likely to be those in which “wife-beating” was prevalent (Levinson 1989) and a 2014 study of 32 countries found that the more people who had been “spanked” as a child, the more they approved of a husband/wife slapping one another and had assaulted/injured a partner (Straus et al 2014).
Education is vital for the development of any country. In the past, Guyana had an education system that was the envy of many of our sister Caricom countries. Since then, standards have fallen and while we are aware of the reasons and explanations for this, the fact is that it is our education system that should be setting the standards of behaviour and providing the means to achieve excellence in Guyana. It is where new ideas, new discoveries and new knowledge should be taught and encouraged. To stay in the same place, adhering to old, outdated and discredited ideas in our changing world is retrograde. The outlawing of corporal punishment in schools would set an important standard for behavioural change in Guyana. The Ministry of Education should rise to the challenge of making this change for the protection and wellbeing of all Guyanese children and the nation as a whole.
Corporal punishment attacks the child’s body and not the problem itself. It is useless if the goal is to correct a particular behaviour. Research indicates that the person administering the punishment obtains satisfaction from doing so while communicating fear, anger, hatred and disrespect.
We have only to look at the rising levels of violence in our society to understand that we are failing to resolve conflicts and anti-social behaviour at every level. We do not suggest that the physical abuse of children that masquerades as corporal punishment in our schools, homes and institutions is solely responsible for this rise in violence, but it is indisputably an important contributing factor as it teaches from a very young age that violence is an acceptable way to solve or correct problems and that people in authority have the right to impose their will or rules on those in their care through the use of violence.
We all know of the incidents reported in the media of school children being subjected to brutal physical violence in the classroom by their teachers. In some instances children have had to receive medical treatment for broken limbs or other injuries.
The fact is that in the context of school discipline, whatever the recommended corporal punishment or whoever administers it, it is still an act of violence against a child and is open to being used both subjectively and arbitrarily.The use of corporal punishment in this way is all the more intolerable because by creating a psychological association between physical punishment and school work, it encourages children who are unable to satisfy their teachers to believe themselves failures and this no doubt contributes significantly to drop out rates and feelings of inferiority.
The 21st session of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review held in January 2015 made recommendations to prohibit all corporal punishment of children to a number of countries, including Guyana. Guyana is one of only 22 countries worldwide that does not fully prohibit corporal punishment in any setting.
As such, we call for an immediate investigation into the report that the teachers responsible for the flogging of the Rupununi students are back in the school system and if they are, we demand that immediate action be taken to prevent any further physical abuse by or contact between these individuals and Guyanese students.
We further call for an immediate investigation into reports that the charges of assault causing grievous bodily harm have been dismissed and for the true reasons for such a decision to be communicated to all those involved, including the school, students. parents and communities of Deep South Rupununi who have been subjected to the trauma of this atrocious violation of human rights, which is an affront to all children and the nation as a whole.
Yours faithfully,
J Whitehead, D Radzik, Help & Shelter,
P Sheerattan-Bisnauth,
Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association
J Marcus, K de Souza, Red Thread
Omattie Madray, ChildLinK
S Morris-Ramlall,
Guyana Women Lawyers Association