“Corporal punishment has been defined as physical punishment which includes spanking , flagellation , paddling and various other forms of physical violence.”

Corporal punishment refers to causing deliberate pain or discomfort in response to undesired behavior by students in school. it is very often that students are given corporal punishments. they are beaten brutally, due to such beating their body parts are injured even.

It is very usual thing that students specially in government schools and in local tuition centers are punished severely. It had effected the minds of our children. Such sever punishments has increased aggressive and ruinous behavior. It increased disintegrate classroom behavior, defacing, drop out rate , school avoidance and school phobia.

There are a lot of cases could be seen all over the Pakistan and other countries too such as an incident in Lahore, Ali Meeza , a student of 10 class in a public school forget his mathematics notebook at home and his teacher severely punished him with a stick. Now he is afraid of going to school. Similarly in January 2016 a video leaked by school staff of a local academy , an other video of a primary school in Karachi showed the principal brutally slapping a mentally handicapped girl of class 4. Where as few months back a video went viral on media and social media and was criticized as well in which a minor was treated offensively by his tuition teacher likewise complaints against the tutor’s academy by parents in Karachi stirred up a whirlpool in provincial education department which made them probe the matter seriously.

Such things and punishments shows the incapability of teachers who can neither control the students nor can teach them effectively. This is the major reason that students do not respect their teachers now a days. It has cause greater harm on their mental abilities. They are afraid of going to schools. They are lacking self confidence, they are becoming rebels, their grades are going down. Exposure to violence during childhood can leas to suicidal tendencies or drug addiction. Such students do dangerous stunts and quarrel with their class fellows as such punishments and offensive behavior had made them aggressive. They are our future and we are torturing them mental and physically.

It is not that students should not be punished on their ill behavior it is important to correct them but their are many different ways to treat and punish them. Punishments other then corporal should be given to correct them.

According to UN report on cruelty against children almost 40 million children around the world have to suffer some sort of physical or mental abuse every year. Pakistan unfortunately is one of those countries where this trend continues.

National Assembly of Pakistan had passed a bill in 2013 which prohibited corporal punishment of children in educational institutions. Despite of this many schools and madrasas continue to dish out corporal punishment due to cultural acceptance.

Lets see how and when such laws will be made and interpreted?

The writer is a law student at University of the Punjab, Lahore. She can be contacted at: [email protected]