The second reported case of physical assault of students by teachers in the Rupununi area, Region 9, for this year involves a headmaster, who, according to reports, was frustrated and allegedly lashed out.
As a result of the incident on October 8, which saw three children of Sand Creek Primary School injured after being hit in the head with a school bell, the headmaster has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation. Two of the three children sustained cuts to their heads one of which required stitching. There has been no mention by anyone so far as to whether the two boys and one girl had been given any counselling to deal with the mental trauma they would have experienced.
Earlier this year, two teachers at Awarewanau Primary School, Deep South Rupununi had brutally flogged two teenage students in front of their peers. In the beatings, which were recorded on video and subsequently shared via social media, the students, two girls, were ‘benched’ sans their skirts. This inhuman and deeply humiliating process resulted in the dismissals of the two teachers.
In this case also, according to reports, the two girls aged 13 and 15 were hospitalized following the beatings. Reports were made to the police and the schools’ welfare officer and medical certificates were obtained for the girls. The teachers were later detained and charged but the case against them was dismissed. It was subsequent to this that the video surfaced in June and the investigation was subsequently conducted by the Teaching Service Commission leading to the decision to dismiss them. Clearly, the evidence was available to the TSC and it must have been made available to police and the court.
And again, as in the case cited first in this column, there was no reference as to whether the girls had access to counselling to help them deal with the psychological issues that would have arisen as a result of the cruel and degrading punishment meted out to them.
Part of the issue with such incidents lies in the reluctance of various administrations in this country to abolish corporal punishment of children in schools. This is despite Guyana having signed on to and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which prohibits the infliction of corporal punishment in schools. In total disregard of this Convention, Guyana retains its senseless ‘Ministerial Guidelines’ (2002) for corporal punishment in schools, which allow for “corporal punishment to be administered by the head teacher, deputy head teacher or designated senior teacher for certain offences including fighting and use of indecent language.
“…Boys should be punished on their hands or buttocks, girls on their hands; the punishments should be inflicted with a cane or strap no longer than 24 inches and not in the presence of other learners, and all punishments should be recorded in the Misdemeanours Book.”
The other part of the issue has to do with the fact that the average adult in this country refuses to see children as individuals, as people. Instead, they view them as property – as belonging to them, perhaps the rationale is that they would have birthed them and are feeding, clothing, housing and educating them, which of course is utter hogwash.
Any adult who approaches another adult and lashes out at him or her as a result of a wrong committed or perceived is liable to be charged with a criminal offence and placed before the court. Once evidence is presented, sentencing is almost automatic and its severity depends on the circumstances under which the offence was committed and the magistrate’s discretion. Persons can be placed on bonds to keep the peace or receive a jail term. More likely than not, if they were to use implements or weapons in the course of the assault—such as whips, belts, canes, straps or bells—the prison term could be hefty.
The consideration therefore is that since a child is usually more defenceless and vulnerable than an adult, adults inflicting physical harm on children in the name of corporal punishment ought to be charged with the same or worse crimes. It begs the question as to when do children get to make the transition from property to be tamed by blows, to persons who have rights? And who gets to make that decision?
The retention of corporal punishment is a slippery slope that gets steeper as pro-punishers pile on the drivel in attempts to justify the ‘rights’ of adults to beat children. It is time to get rid of the cane, strap and whip and replace them with tolerance, love and well-thought-out alternatives to correcting disobedience.
