Women’s group lashes corporal punishment

WOMEN Working for Social Progress (WWSP) is calling on the Ministry of Education and all those involved in decision-making to “steadfastly resist the retrograde step” of reintroducing corporal punishment in the nation’s schools. The group said children now needed strong examples of non-violent ways to solve problems. A statement from WWSP yesterday said the recommendation of the Deosaran (Ramesh) Committee to bring back corporal punishment for an experimental three-year period had no place in Vision 2020, and was “fraught with danger.” “The State is being asked to suspend its better judgment and sanction a form of punishment which goes against the objectives of education in this century. “We must give very careful thought to this recommendation before we rush into implementing it,” advised the group.

The statement also pointed out that Deosaran’s sample survey of 145 parents, teachers and students out of a teaching population of 14,000 and 300,000 students, did not meet the minimum of ten percent of the target population required for “serious research.” WWSP referred to recent workshops on alternative, humanistic management strategies of classroom management conducted by UWI’s Centre for Gender and Development Studies on behalf of the Ministry of Education, where it was found based on participants’ evaluation, that more than 80 percent of the participants believed corporal punishment was not necessary, and more effective alternatives were available. WWSP said teachers and principals at the workshop were able to point out alternatives — more workshops, information and support. The group called on Deosaran “to visit the centre to review the participants’ evaluation and to hold discussions with Prof Reddock and her team.”