IPNEd urges MPs to prohibit corporal punishment in educational settings
Corporal punishment is fully prohibited in schools in 136 states.
However, around the world 793 million children, half of the global school-age population, live in 63 states where corporal punishment is lawful in some or all educational settings .
A new report explores children’s experiences of school corporal punishment, identifying where action is needed, and describing how progress can be achieved.
On 4 May, End Violence, End Corporal Punishment and Coalition for Good Schools brought together a series of high-level speakers to launch a new report that calls for urgent progress and stronger political commitment to ending violent punishment in education for all children.
The launch was moderated by prominent children’s rights activist Mehnaz Akber Aziz. A Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan Ms Akber Aziz was the author of a successful bill that prohibits corporal punishment in educational institutions in Pakistan’s National Capital. Ms Akber Aziz is the Founder and Convener of the Parliamentary Child Rights Caucus and Global Co-Chair of the International Parliamentary Network for Education.
Mehnaz Akber Aziz, IPNEd’s Co-Chair and member of the Parliament of Pakistan chairing the launch of a new report on ending violent corporal punishment in schools for all children.
Other participants included representatives from the Government of Peru and the Government of Jordan, UNICEF, UNESCO IICBA, the Children's Institute, Uganda National Teachers' Union and Agrasar in India.
Children cannot learn if they are afraid
Vast numbers of children are regularly subjected to violent punishment at school - research shows 70% of surveyed children in Central America had experienced school corporal punishment at some point in their life, and 40% in Africa and Southeast Asia had experienced it in the previous week.
Corporal punishment does not only violate children’s rights, but there is overwhelming evidence that the use of corporal punishment has serious negative impacts on children, including their educational outcomes.
It can impede learning and contribute to school drop-out, far from teaching children to behave well; it teaches them that violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflict.
“Violence undermines everything that education aims to achieve – harming children and stopping them from learning, and wasting our collective investment in education. That is why I'm calling on all governments to prohibit all forms of violent punishment in schools,” said Mehnaz Akber Aziz.
During the discussion, the Ministry for Education of the Government of Peru explained that “children must be brought to the centre of understanding and solving this challenge”, and highlighted the importance of creating safe and accountable reporting mechanisms for children and teachers focusing on the child’s needs.
“Some 30 years after the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as a network of parliamentarians committed to advancing children’s right to education, IPNEd believes that prohibiting corporal punishment in law and eliminating it in practice in every country of the world and in all educational settings is an urgent priority,” said Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, Executive Director, IPNEd.
“The law must protect students against corporal punishment and schools free of violence must be regarded as prerequisite to the achievement of the internationally agreed goal of quality, inclusive education for all, SDG 4.”
The International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd) is committed to universal ban on corporal punishment in all countries. To end corporal punishment by 2030 this commitment must be urgently translated into action by all governments to prohibit and eliminate corporal punishment everywhere.
