-wider consultations to begin shortly
As Government moves to begin a series of rigorous consultations, garnering the inputs of the grassroots with respect to abolishing corporal punishment in the school system, Education Minister, Priya Manickchand held a panel discussion on the latter on Saturday evening on the National Communications Network (NCN). The panel discussion, which also saw the inputs of Dominique Gaskin, Executive Member of the Alliance for Change (AFC); Karen De Souza, Head of Red Thread; and Jennifer Cumberbatch, Headteacher, Winfer Gardens Secondary, discussed whether corporal punishment should be eliminated.
According to the Education Minister, while several countries have abolished corporal punishment in the school system, others, including the United States, are still at ‘logger heads’ as to whether this should be eliminated or retained.
“Canada, as recently as 2004, after a case went to the Supreme Court, banned it across the country and the US decided that it was not a breach of the Constitution,” she said.
While Poland has been the first country to have abolished corporal punishment at school, Guyana is yet to take a stand on the issue, hence the need for countrywide consultations.
Thus far, all parties have agreed that no child below Grade Two should be beaten in schools, and this has since been a clause in the Bill, which is yet to be taken to Parliament to be made into law.
“We are at a place where, because of consultations, we have come to a conclusion that our children younger than Grade Two should not be beaten in school and we have also laid down rules about how this is to happen,” Minister Manickchand said.
Dominique Gaskin, while making a clear point that it should not be abolished, stated however that corporal punishment should be regulated, whereby, if the need arises, it must be carefully done and monitored by the relevant authorities.
“I know there are a lot of people who are against it and I respect that view. Corporal punishment is a system; I think there is a place for it. However, abusive behaviour against students I am totally against,” he said.
Jennifer Cumberbatch maintained that corporal punishment should be retained in the schools system, noting that children are becoming more insolent to teachers’ in schools.
“I have no problem if someone were to give a child two lashes, that is not abuse…I am in agreement with those persons who feel that there should be no corporal punishment, if it is abusive, but we have to do something to stem that tide, because our children will become like those first world countries where children talk to their teachers anyhow,” she said.
She added that corporal punishment at most schools is the last resort, as there is currently a teachers’ manual which governs how teachers are to maintain order and discipline in schools.
Ms. De Souza, in her input to the discussion, stated that while the issue can be challenging, especially for teachers, corporal punishment should not be allowed, as it defeats teachers’ professionalism.
But Cumberbatch disagrees, as she stated that teachers are concerned about children, and as such, would not scold a child to the extent of being physically abusive.
In addition, she added that it is challenging for a teacher to function in a class room where children are ill-mannered and disorderly, as it would be difficult for a teacher to be respected and for the curriculum to move forward.
Consultations on the abolishment of corporal punishment in the school system is a fulfillment of a commitment made, during the submission of Guyana’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), to the United Nations Rights Commission on several human rights conventions in 2010.
The consultations will be organised by Education Minister Priya Manickchand.
Source: (GINA) http://guyanachronicle.com/2012/03/26/panel-discussions-held-on-corporal-punishment-in-school-system