Dear Editor,
Corporal punishment in our schools in Guyana goes back to the earliest days of formal education where it was, for the most part, acceptable in the homes as well as the schools; where there was a correlation of the efforts of parents and educators to discipline students; when teachers enjoyed enormous respect in the community and parents supported them unquestionably and when there was hardly ever any dissent against the use of corporal punishment in schools. Indeed, Heads of Schools coming to a new school or community received a warmer welcome if they came with a reputation of not sparing the rod. And while we recognize Article 19 of the U.N. Convention on the rights of the child; the issue is how best it can be implemented having regard to the need to maintain discipline in schools,
I commend our educators who have been seeking the views of the Guyanese public as regards the retaining of corporal punishment in schools. Simultaneously, I wish to posit that there is need to examine available empirical evidence which would inform us whether corporal punishment as a form of discipline has been effective; whether it still has a role in good child rearing; whether it should be phased out allowing other measures to be put in place; or removed from the menu of measures employed until now, to ensure children obey and respect authority and become responsible students and disciplined products of Society. I like thousands of other Guyanese attended primary and secondary school in the 1950s and 1960s at a time when acquiring an education was viewed as the major avenue to success and status in society, and consequently; the motivation to learn was probably greater among all classes than is the case today.
People’s needs then were simple: no brand name boots; no TVs with dubious messages and alien values in our homes diverting our children from reading and doing homework. As children we were schooled and denounced by parents, teachers, relatives, friends, neighbours when we were delinquent. The cane was then the ultimate sanction in instances of serious breaches of school and home rules. And most of us have no feelings of regret because these measures have contributed positively to our upbringing and have helped to shape us into better persons with no ill effects. Indeed, many have publicly sung praises for the use of corporal punishment as a last resort measure that has brought some positive results in the form of improved discipline and conduct. Albeit these good practices appear to be dying.
I would wish to see the phasing out of corporal punishment as one of several measures used in schools to discipline students. Given the present disciplinary situation in many of our schools it would seem that the replacement of corporal punishment with alternative forms of discipline not in place, does reduce the range of sanctions immediately available to the school and would result in a total collapse of order in the classroom. Learning cannot take place in an indiscipline environment. We could debate whether to cane or not when in fact we still have class sizes that are above the recommended size and when teachers consequently and out of frustration leave their classrooms unsupervised. Most violent student misconduct takes place when classes are unsupervised.
The removal of corporal punishment in schools must be over such a period as will allow teachers to be adequately trained to deal with ill-disciplined students using alternative forms of sanctions, In this regard, there is need not only for teachers but parents also to be guided on the proper ways to teach and to discipline children. In this way, we can bridge the gap between the home and the school by coming up with a consensus on matters such as corporal punishment. We can also direct our attention and energies; our resources, our fury and agitate against the more serious forms of child abuse such as incest, sexual molestation, our street children etc. The focus must be on a gradual change of emphasis from the use of
corporal punishment to the alternatives being emphasized and this new focus must involve parents, teachers, education administrators, Schools’ Welfare Officers, counsellors, students and the broader community.
They must be trained and assigned to schools or cluster of schools and tasked, inter alia, with taking back responsibility from society for our children’s upbringing. The ban on corporal punishment in schools cannot be an overnight measure but must be examined in conjunction with the setting up of the necessary institutions, the training of required personnel and the realization that until alternatives to its use are in place and working satisfactorily; corporal punishment has an acceptable role in the discipline of children.
Sincerely,
Norman Whittaker
(Former Minister of Government)