Corporal Punishment, Why?

The issue of corporal punishment is been making news of late around and among few schools in the country. And it does not stir any fond recollections in any manner among anyone who have walked the path of education monitored and regulated by the disciplining rod of the teacher.


Recently, the Mongar court sentenced a school principal to three months in prison for hitting (lashing) a student. The principal reacted in the manner he did to ‘correct’ the ways of the student who was according to him in his statement bullying juniors and was also stealing flowers from the junior students’ gardens.


There have also been cases of extremities where a teacher in Zhemgang had used a syringe as his tool of choice to discipline and monitor students; this back in 2012. The case in question ended with the said teacher being sent off on compulsory retirement.


In most cases the teachers engaged in the forbidden act are penalized, warned or sentenced to imprisonment. However the objective here is not about bringing to task, those individuals who overstep their role of educators by enforcing physical means of punishment on their respective pupils. It should be more focused on how to keep the teacher, the student and institutions from having to ever see such incidences develop.


Bhutan has been signatory to the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), and has banned corporal punishment in schools for several years. Every educationist under the nation’s umbrella of education body is aware of the one rule on corporal punishment, which is ‘no corporal punishment.’


The corporal punishment issue in schools, which continuously and controversially make it to the news, is without a doubt very disturbing. What is more disturbing is the acceptance and tolerance by a few sections of society.


The pro-movement on corporal punishment is usually supported by those who feel that, in the process of learning, a little knock on the head is sometimes a requirement.


Medical journals have cited ‘increased mental aggression and antisocial behaviors’ as consequences in children who have experienced corporal punishment during their schooling.

As a champion of Gross National Happiness (GNH), an idea much promoted pretty much everywhere and anywhere Bhutan is concerned, this little detail stands crucial to be addressed. A GNH school would most definitely and easily be absent of the element of fear or (corporal) punishment.


Published as Editorial for Business Bhutan on August 09, 2014