Create awareness on corporal punishment: Education Commissioner

Vijayawada: Research studies have shown that the theory of corporal punishment is an ineffective discipline strategy with children and it does not benefit the child in any way, said school education commissioner K Sandhya Rani.

She was the chief guest at the State-level awareness workshop on 'Elimination of Corporal Punishment in Schools' organised by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in collaboration with the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Department of Education at Thumalapallivari Kshetraiah Kalakshetram here on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, the commissioner said that corporal punishment was against the UN Convention of the rights of children. She said 128 countries had banned corporal punishment across the world while 69 countries approved it and added developed countries like Australia, United States of America and South Korea allowed corporal punishment. In Cameroon 97, per cent of children were subject to corporal punishment and Kazakhstan was the least at 13 per cent.

She said a comprehensive circular was drafted and introduced in this academic year to create awareness on corporal punishment. She said it is time to put an end to corporal punishment by sensitising and creating awareness among stakeholders, teachers and school staff.

According to a study by ‘Young Life’ and Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), the commissioner said 70 to 80 per cent children are subject to corporal punishment. The study further says those children between age 8 to 12 years are weak in mathematics.

She said with high rate of corporal punishment in India, children are afraid of going to school. The awareness workshop was attended by key stakeholders such as principals and headmasters of government and private schools across the state.

School education joint director Krishna Reddy, AP SCPCR chairperson Ganta Hymavati, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights technical expert Paresh Shah and K Chittibabu were present.