Discipline, Not Corporal Punishment

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child2, defined corporal punishment as “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pains or discomfort however light” Wikipedia on the other hand describes it as a punishment intended to cause physical pain on a person. It is most often practiced on minors, especially in home and school setting. Common methods of corporal or physical punishment include spanking, flogging, padding and many more.
Over the years, corporal punishment has been a big issue in Nigeria. Children are being tortured for all kinds of reasons: for taking madam’s ten naira, for eating children’s food, for being disobedient to their parents and so on. A father was recently reported to have, with the connivance of his wife allegedly chained his nine-year old son in a room for more than a month for stealing meat from the family’s pot of soup. The boy was left to starve without food or water. By the time he was discovered by government officials, he had become extremely weak.
In schools, teachers’ brutality is common place. There have been several of corporal punishment meted out to pupils which went awry. A recent report had it that a child went blind when particles of the teachers cane entered his eyes while the teacher was flogging another student. A few months ago, the media was awash with the story of how a teacher in Anambra State was killed for flogging a student. According to the story, the teacher met her untimely death when the relations of a student she flogged for not sweeping a classroom decided to revenge the flogging meted out on the student.
Although there have been several campaigns against corporal punishment especially by Non Governmental Organisations, it is continually being carried in our society. Just three days ago, a neighbor’s house help schooling in a public school in Port Harcourt City came home with a swollen face and bruises all over her body. She said a teacher in her school gave her those wounds for being disrespectful to him. Schools are supposed to be a safe, healthy environment just as teachers are supposed to be the students’ friend and confidant. Incidentally, that is no longer the case as some teachers and bad students make school very hellish especially for the junior students.
One therefore thinks that it is high time urgent measures are taken by the government and other stake holders to put an end to this barbaric act. Should a child not be disciplined when he errs? Of course the answer is no. He should be disciplined but not punished. Experts have said that hitting a child will not make him to respect his teacher, parents or care givers. Rather, it will only instill fear in child and can have some psychological and emotional consequences.
In the views of a Professor of Ethics and Theology, William Mbamalu, meting out punishment to a student simply demonstrates that the teacher cannot control his temper. He is also communicating to the child that the best way of solving a problem is through violence. He said orientating a child in the way of violence by beating him to submission is very wrong, adding that anything that is a threat to the child’s emotion does not help.
He advised that the best way to correct or discipline a child is through moral orientation, making the child realize that what he did was wrong and the consequences of his action. This he said will discourage the child from continuing in a behavior that annoys the parents or care givers.
Similarly, a Psychologist/ Educationist, Mrs Perpertua Iroro, said in as much as discipline is very important for children’s sound upbringing, it should be done with moderation and guidance. In her words, “kids are human. They have their likes and dislikes. They have their own way of seeing and doing things. So let us dedicate time to go down to their level, ask them questions, listen to their answers, consider their reasons, put their weakness and strength in judgment, and let every child grow with proper guidance and teaching for better improvement”
She noted that it has been proven that with reward and praise kids best attributes and talents are exhibited than with force and punishment. She said kids should be corrected, or disciplined through denial, grounding and others.
However, it is not strange to hear some people claim that corporal punishment helped in forming their characters and making them who they are today. Some say children and youth of today misbehave because they are not properly disciplined.
The big question is, should we continue to batter our children or learn from our other civilized countries where corporal punishment has been banned? Shouldn’t we adopt other corrective and disciplinary measures? What about adopting some classroom disciplinary measures produced by the Center for Educational Development which includes: verbal warning; simple punishment; isolation; academic punishment; physical punishment and light or controlled use of cane, or other measures like responsibility, provision of rules, provision of consequences, consistency and role modeling.
The essence of discipline is to teach or correct a child. Therefore it should be done with love. Let us remember that a child has the ability to know whether he is being punished out of love or hatred. You can best teach a child when you show love and compassion to him even in the disciplinary process.

Calista Ezeaku