New age lifestyle comes with its load of tensions and anxieties. Children are at the receiving end of modern living as many parents vent their frustrations by shouting at or punishing their children for even trivial matters.
Frustrations caused by pressures at work, broken home conditions, financial and domestic worries, marital discord and alcoholic problems are some of the reasons for parents to lose their temper on children. According to UNICEF Sri Lanka around 73.4 percent of children aged one to 14 years experience corporal punishment at home by parents in Sri Lanka.
“Children in Sri Lanka are at risk of entering adulthood at a disadvantage to their peers, because they have not benefited from the good nutrition, stimulation and protection - known as ‘eat, play and love’ - that enable a brain to grow to its full capacity by the age of five years. A child’s brain grows and develops to 85 percent of its full capacity by the age of five. In these early years’ brain development depends on good nutrition, play and stimulation in the home environment and in preschools and love and protection from harm including violence, abuse and neglect. These can be provided by parents through simple actions, and can make a lasting, positive difference to a child’s development,” UNICEF Sri Lanka’s statement said.
This has also been an issue that has been escalating steadily in schools across the island. More and more reports of teachers inflicting punishments of students have raised controversy in recent years.
Severe punishment of children in whatever nature it is given is detrimental to the child's physical and mental development. Though the efficacy of punishment is over-emphasised particularly by those who hold fast to the theory that punishments are done with the best of intentions is quite controversial and questionable.
Child behaviour problems
A child cannot learn discipline in an atmosphere of fear. Spanking children as an effective form of discipline could lead to short and long term child behaviour problems.
“Beating, as a punishment, is no answer to disciplining a child. However it is considered as one of the easiest ways to make a child obedient on a short term basis. The beating also does not explain to him or her why he or she is being punished. Persistent punishment, scolding, criticising and beating may prove to be an impediment in the natural and all round development of the child's personality. Moreover, beating and severe scolding are negative devises to correct or reform them,” says National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) Founding Chairperson, Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics, former Presidential Task Force on Child Protection Member Professor Harendra de Silva.
He notes that children engage in certain acts to get attention. Though a beating means that the child has gotten attention but a spank or a slap does not mean that the problem that has been bothering the parent or the teacher has been solved.
The belief that strict discipline has beneficial effects for growing children seems to rest on a seriously faulty assumption. The assumption is that children are by nature problematic and therefore need strict disciplining. Unless such disciplining is exercised, the child is sure to be spoiled.
Professor de Silva adds that children are not born stubborn. It is the environments which shapes their character and personality. Parents, the society as well as the input provided by the media contribute to the child’s mental development.
“Crying is a weapon that a child uses to get whatever he or she wants. If the parents give in and let the child have his or her way in the matter, the child will realize that the strategy works and use it again,” he said.
Jaffna Faculty of Medicine, Dept. of Surgery, Visiting Lecturer, Dr. D. C. Ambalavanar said there is mounting evidence that harsh discipline (physical, verbal and psychological) is harmful to children and damaging to society.
“There was a time when the saying ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ was accepted as common wisdom. The practice of corporal punishment (physical violence) is widespread in our schools and homes to the extent that many think it is ‘part of our culture ‘and that without it children cannot be disciplined’. While on the one hand as a society we would not accept violence against adults we are somehow blind to the harmful consequences of corporal punishment to the child and the wider community,” Dr. Ambalavanar said.
He adds that the impact of violence against children in our schools and other educational institutions goes beyond the risk of just physical injury.
“Children who suffer physical and emotional violence experience long term effects that can continue into adulthood, such as impaired brain development and mental and physical health problems, including heart disease, substance abuse and depression. The younger the brain the more severe is the effects of toxic stress. Violence also affects children’s learning and performance in school, creates difficulties in developing empathy, controlling aggression and interacting with others, and damages parent-child relationships. This has been found in studies carried out in Sri Lanka as well,” he explained.
Physical violence
“Witnessing and experiencing violence is closely related to a person’s tendency to perpetrate violence. Many children who have suffered serious physical violence can themselves perpetrate violence against their own children and spouses when they become adults. In many of the bigger boys’ schools in northern Sri Lanka prefects have been allowed to hit fellow students in the course of carrying out their duties. This problem exists in schools in other parts of the country too,” Dr. Ambalavanar added.
He questioned whether it is then surprising that we see the serious problem of ragging in our universities when our children have been made to feel that violence is acceptable and when they have been exposed to violence for most of their lives?
Adults tend to believe that it is their ‘right’ to hit a child for purposes of correction or to obtain obedience. The truth is that no one has the ‘right’ to hit another person and this ‘right is a great wrong’.
There is a profoundly influential social and policy discourse in our culture which has conveniently chosen to either ignore or make children’s voices invisible from the public domain. Though there is no dearth of events such as children’s summits, children’s festivals or youth parliaments which are self-indulgently claiming to represent children’s voices, the realistic picture is that children still belong to the voiceless category.
Former NCPA Chairperson, Former UNICEF Director, and Former Presidential Task Force on Child Protection Member Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne said that the biggest obstacle to overcome in preventing the use of corporal punishment is the continued and widespread tolerance of this heinous and cruel practice, in the name of discipline.
“A confidential reporting system for children is essential. A multi-sectoral and well-coordinated approach is needed when such an initiative is developed. Raising awareness is essential for parents, families, communities, schools and alternative care institutions for children, including all those working for and with children,” she reiterated.
Former Presidential Task Force on Child Protection Member, Presidential Advisor, and Former Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Tara de Mel noted that the brutal and barbaric practices seen in universities in the guise of ‘ragging’ today, are symptomatic of the negative emotions and psychological issues in certain undergraduates.
“Research studies conducted on victims of corporal punishment have clearly shown how their behaviour in later life is affected by childhood trauma. Therefore this issue has to be resolved immediately for the future generation of Sri Lanka to have healthy mindsets,” she pointed out.
Traumatized childhood experience
Elaborating further on this topic Clinical Psychology Professor Piyanjali De Zoyza noted that children imitate adults and learn that aggression is ok.
“So when you go to university and don’t like somebody you use the same tactic on that person and dub it as ‘ragging’. Later in your workplace when you find that you don’t like your employee or your subordinate, you use verbal violence,” she explained the chained of processes which follow a traumatized childhood experience.
“Today’s abused is tomorrow’s abuser,” notes Professor de Silva.
“Those who have been beaten in childhood or those who have been scolded and degraded and those who have been sexually abused in childhood reciprocate that in adult self.”
Another alarming factor to consider in relation to corporal punishment is the lowered academic performance. Last year an islandwide survey revealed that the three main reasons corporal punishment is meted out in Sri Lankan schools are: failure to do homework, having love affairs with the opposite sex and not dressing in proper clothes. “Children are mostly unable to do homework because they are overload of homework by the teachers. Love affairs and dressing differently is part of the normal psycho-sexual development. If our teachers hit children in this manner, how would you expect children to grow up to be wholesome adults with proper values?” Professor De Zoyza questioned.
Dr. de Mel points out that there are many ways to instill discipline in children without resorting to physical violence and emotional abuse. Experts in the field have repeatedly shown how even the most mischievous children can be disciplined without using such drastic measures.
Negative consequences
“Rewarding good behaviour appropriately, showing the ill effects of mischievous behaviour firmly but with kindness, and using other skilful methods may be a slow process, but will have sustainable results with no negative consequences,” she said.
Stop Child Cruelty Chairperson Dr. Tush Wickramanayakan says, “There are many ways in which discipline can be maintained without the recourse to physical or harsh verbal punishment as has been well established around the world. First of all children should be treated with respect and understanding. Teachers have to focus on a child’s good behaviour and not the bad. Get the child work for a reward. The introduction of the star chart is one such way. Teachers are not supposed to give black stars to children rather they have to be given red stars for their good behaviour. There is another called Rainbow system where a group of students have to work towards a reward. There the stronger child pulls along the weaker one which develops camaraderie.”
Realising that she must make it a public concern to prevent such negative incidents in schools after her own daughter faced such an issue, Dr. Wickramanayaka embarked on a mission to help many others who had experienced similar circumstances. Her ultimate vision is to enforce a complete ban on corporal punishment in the island.
“There needs to be an entire strategy in training teachers to become child protection officers, who will take responsibility and action in case of an incident. We are not against the teachers. We understand that there are many pressures on teachers and whenever a negative incident happen the teacher regrets. If they are expelled from school it impacts their lives as well. We must not forget that teachers too are often a victim in such cases and not just the child,” she elaborates.
“It should be possible for teachers to discuss with their students the disciplinary codes for the classroom and involve the children in the process. Each school can set up codes of practise after discussion with teachers, parents and students. It should also be stressed that those teachers and parents who are against corporal punishment are not against discipline,” she adds.
Dr. Wickramanayaka points out that there is a huge number of international schools in the country that are not governed or regulated by anyone. “There is no protection of law for the students in international schools. An authority has to be set up to own each and every child in the country. Teachers need to be trained and equipped effectively to teach and deal with children. Already teacher training includes an understanding of basic child psychology and positive classroom management techniques but these should be taught in a practical manner and seen to be implemented. When teachers receive their appointment it should be required of them to have such a practical refresher course before they start work,” she explained.
Through some of these measures she believes that it will be possible to eradicate the scourge of corporal punishment from our schools and make the classroom a friendlier learning environment and thus produce a healthier society.
National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) Chairman, H. M. Abeyarathne approves that corporal punishment is prevalent in schools, home and orphanages in Sri Lanka.
“In a research conducted by NCPA it was revealed that 86 per cent schools have corporal punishment. Verbal and physical abuse of the student is used mainly because the students have not completed their homework. The curricular or the subject matter is vast and both teachers and students are stressed in trying to complete it which leads to negative incidents,” he said.
“Some teachers have the attitude that students should be corrected by corporal punishment which is wrong. Parents think it is their right to hit children. It is high time to change our attitudes. We have to implement laws further to tackle this issue. Corporal punishment will never develop the personality of a child instead will make children search for comfort in using drugs and other harmful methods,” Abeyarathne pointed out.
NCPA Chairman also stressed the competition in the education system and the burden of exams also pressurizes the child.
Higher Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Dr.Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe says that corporal punishment is a factor that has been rejected by all the developing countries.
“Discipline cannot be achieved through punishment. Rather it is these individuals who have had traumatic childhood experiences who inflict violence on others during their youth and adulthood. Ragging in universities is a result of corporal punishment. We need to make all the relevant parties aware about this aspect and develop awareness programmes through the media and other means,” he noted.
According to Circular No. 12 of 2016 - Safeguarding Discipline in Schools, physical punishment in schools has been banned. The circular also lists alternative measures to replace corporal punishment. Corporal punishment for adults was included in the country’s law act during the period that the British ruled the island.
“Sending a man to the gallows too is a form of corporal punishment but there are laws to ban that action. There is a particular inquiry system to look into an employee’s misconduct but nobody takes measures to find out why a child has misbehaved. If the employer had been drunk, under the influence of drugs or under stress and becomes abusive towards the employee, then the employee can challenge him but a child is not given that opportunity with his or her parents. The child becomes a voiceless victim,” Professor de Silva pointed adding that it is a violation of the rights of an undefended person.
To be continued tomorrow
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