This is despite the fact that education is supposed to inculcate and instill discipline to learners critical for their success both during school time and after school. During the apartheid era, corporal punishment was widely used as a sentence for juveniles in the justice system, and in schools as the primary method of discipline. It features trey clayton, who was paddled in 8th grade with disastrous consequences, followed by. Reports combine the response categories once or twice and mostall of the time. This article offers an explanation for the ongoing use of corporal punishment. Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of physical pain as punishment. Pdf corporal punishment and masculinity in south african schools. Among the changes in the education sector has been the banning of corporal punishment in. Previous researches pointed out that adults parents and teachers who were physically punished in their childhood are more supportive of corporal punishment than those who were not subjected to physical punishment hyman, 1988. Smacking your child may soon be illegal in south africa. Disciplinary practices in schools and principles of. Criticism of its effects led, in 1996, to the banning of this form of punishment. With the ending of apartheid, a human rights culture was heralded, laying the legal foundation for the ending. A study on the extent of the use of corporal punishments.
Ending corporal punishment of children in south africa. Parents and teachers in schools have normalized cp, physical. The use of corporal punishment in south african schools. A thorough analysis of concepts related to corporal punishment such as context of cp. The use of corporal punishment in nigerian high schools is widely accepted as a norm. Children have a right to be protected from corporal punishment.
The advantages of corporal punishment legal beagle. Before 1994 the most common form of school discipline was corporal punishment but now things have changed. Corporal punishment within the education sector has been prohibited since 1997, by the south african schools act no. Corporal punishment in schools, south africa, apr 1998. So any kind of mental or physical punishment has an exponential and. The manual, the alternatives to corporal punishment was. Pdf in this paper the researchers sought to examine the issues and. Since the banning of corporal punishment most public schools have been unable to manage discipline. In the united states, 223,190 public school students were subjected to corporal punishment in the 20062007 school year, according to u. High court strikes down corporal punishment defence for. However, most literature, as reported in this paper, suggests that corporal punishment has negative consequences on the victim. Corporal punishment and the achievement of educational.
South african society has undergone major social, economic and political changes over the past few years as we have sought to establish a democratic and humane nation. Advocacy and public education campaigns that combine the efforts of. In the landmark 1991 judgement of the namibian supreme court in ex parte. Section 101 the south african schools act provides that no person may administer corporal punishment at a school against a learner. Pdf the effect of corporal punishment in nigerian high. Corporal punishment doesnt inflict injury but does involve some pain. The banning of corporal punishment in south african schools sparked an. Since 1996 newspapers have routinely reported that corporal punishment continues to be used in schools, sometimes resulting in hospitalisation. From one perspective, some commentators link corporal punishment to school violence. Prior to 1994, the heavy reliance on corporal punishment in south african schools to maintain discipline maphosa and shumba, 2010 resulted in this becoming an accepted and integral part of schooling for many teachers morrell, 2001.
In addition, 14 students and 14 teachers were interviewed. Since the banning of corporal punishment most public schools have been unable to. Corporal punishment can be described as any physical action that hurts a child in the name of discipline. Longitudinal evidence from ethiopia, india, peru andviet nam. Corporal punishment in the south african context historical overview of corporal punishment in south africa prior to 1994, corporal punishment was frequently relied on to ensure discipline in south african schools. Data collection was done in respect of the study specific objectives through data collection methods which include questionnaires and interviews. For most kenyan children, violence is a regular part of the school experience. The enforcement of the south african schools act 1996 laid the ground. Assessing the effects of corporal punishment on primary. Although corporal punishment is illegal in south african schools, it remains a contested issue in some communities.
This act states quite clearly that corporal punishment at schools is prohibited section 101 and that contraventions of this subsection are criminal offences. Harber and mncube working both together and separately, have consistently argued that corporal punishment is a form of violence which in some south african schools demonstrates, inter alia, authoritarianism harber, 2004. Twenty years on, corporate punishment in schools is ali. The dilemma confronting the south african teacher is that the south african education system is in a stage of transition from a system that supported corporal punishment and the promotion of an inhumane retributive ideology gladwel l, 1999. Cape argus, 1 april 1998 education chiefs ponder how to spare rod. It can also be a strong deterrent to disruptive behavior. Corporal punishment in schools has been formally prohibited since 1997 when the south african schools act came into force. The south african schools act 84 of 1996 section 10 prohibits the administration of corporal punishment. Later, he felt bad and made tolstoy farm where any kind of corporal punishment did not exist. Corporal punishment should be counterpoint allowed in.
In this study we further argue that the fact that the atcp does not seem to work raises a fundamental question as to whether the. Arguments against the use of corporal punishment the above argument highlighted the. Code r277608 prohibition of corporal punishment in utahs public schools. Shifting attitudes and behaviours underpinning physical punishment. The impact of the abolition of corporal punishment on teacher. Watch pbs newshours segment on education weeks investigation of corporal punishment in schools. Grahamstown highranking education officials meeting in port elizabeth have discussed alternative means of discipline in schools with corporal punishment constitutionally abolished by the south african schools act of 1996, a whole new approach to education in the country was in the process of being developed, said blade.
Less than 20 countries worldwide have adopted legislation to prohibit corporal punishment of. Culturalhistorical and sociocultural practices of teachers in a south african primary school. In 1997, the abolition of corporal punishment act abolished the former practice, and the south african schools act of 1996 outlawed corporal punishment in schools. Since corporal punishment was outlawed in south african schools section 17 of. Learners enjoy manual work such as picking up papers and cleaning. Pdf corporal punishment has long been the most common form of punishment in south african. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of the use of corporal punishment. The research findings demonstrate that corporal punishment in schools is highly correlated to family acceptance by practicing corporal punishment at home and lack of parental reporting of corporal punishment practiced by teachers, in addition to the school acceptance through having school principals practice corporal punishment and.
The main advantages for it are the immediate effectiveness and the low cost. Teachers use caning, slapping, and whipping to maintain classroom discipline and to punish children for poor academic. But this legislative intervention did not end the use of corporal punishment in schools. Severe corporal punishment still carried out at many sa. The south african council of educators sace received 245 reports of corporal punishment against teachers in the 20142015 financial year, compared to. Section 10 of the south african schools act 1996 reflected this finding by banning corporal punishment in schools. He indicated further that in african schools corporal punishment was used on boys. Corporal punishment is a common problem all over the world.
The issue of corporal punishment in zimbabwe is a serious matter since the ruling by justice esther muremba who ruled that corporal punishment or the caning of students in unconstitutional. Since 1996 newspapers have routinely reported that corporal pun. Many schools in singapore and malaysia use caning for boys as a routine official punishment for misconduct, as also some african countries. Vc ngwenya, mophato private school, p o box 605, francistown, botswana. It became acknowledged as an essential part of the schooling system. Corporal punishment means the intentional infliction of physical pain as a disciplinary measure upon the body of a minor child under the age of 18 or under the age of 23 who is receiving. Teachers saw corporal punishment as the only solution that can be used to discipline a child. The south african education system historically has used corporal punishment to maintain discipline. The unpalatable truth is that 20 years since corporal punishment was abolished in south african schools, many teachers continue to dish it out, often for the most mundane of offences. In schools, teachers used corporal punishment to main order amongst pupils. The predominant christian national education policy affirmed the. Abstract this research investigated the perceptions of parents and teachers towards the abolition of corporal punishment cp in three primary private schools in botswana. Apart from presentday singapore, there can hardly be another country where judicial corporal punishment jcp was used as widely as in twentiethcentury south africa. South african schools act 84 of 1996 education labour relations council b 2 south african schools act 84 of 1996 assented to 6 november, 1996 english text signed by the president date of commencement.
Despite it being banned since 1997 some teachers in south african schools continue to dish out corporal punishment often for everyday offences it said in a statement. Jcp evolved over a long period from traditional use under british colonial administration for serious crimes only, to a mandatory requirement in the 1950s and 1960s for many. Despite the legal ban, newspapers and limited research reveal that corporal punishment practices are sill occurring in schools. Physical punishment also continues at high rates in south african schools despite it being legally prohibited. Corporal punishment and masculinity in south african schools. Corporal punishment has previously been outlawed as a punishment in the justice system or in schools, but courts have scrupulously steered clear of pronouncing on smacking within the family. Judicial corporal punishment in south africa page 1. This study critically analyzed the effect of using this type of punishment on students in nigerian high schools. Effects of banning corporal punishment on discipline in south. Unicef calls attention to international and national legislation protecting children from all forms of violence, abuse and maltreatment. Attorneygeneral, in re corporal punishment by organs of state, berker cj remarked in a separate judgement, that little agreement exists in respect of the desirability or otherwise of corporal punishment in schools. Studies from south africa have demonstrated how the historical. Pinnoc k, 1997 to a situation where sch ools promote health and wellbeing.
In most of continental europe, school corporal punishment has been banned for several decades or longer, depending on the country see the list of countries below. Basic education rights handbook education rights in. Morrell and others published corporal punishment in south african schools. South africa banned school corporal punishment when it transitioned to a new government. In the south african context, this idea and belief has become defunct, in that it is contrary to the bill of rights entrenched in the countrys constitution and the south african schools act. This is in keeping with international trends of recognising of the rights of the child and the south african constitution.
Parkerjenkins, 1999, south africa s law courts held corporal punishment to be an infringement of a persons human rights. Watch new school corporal punishment video emerges. Corporal punishment was done away with in western countries almost 30 years ago and now children run amuck and have no respect for authority and in. The impact of the abolition of corporal punishment on. This thesis will examine attitudes and opinions to the existing problem and the connection to childrens rights in two societies, south africa and sweden. The purpose of this survey was to acquire descriptive information regarding corporal punishment in tanzanias olevel secondary schools. Clustered sampling technique was applied to identify the sample size for the study. School corporal punishment continues to be a legal means of disciplining children in a. Although much is known about parents use of corporal punishment, there is les. As in so many other countries in the world, many children in south africa suffer corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment in the home, in the school and in different institutions.