The Times of Swaziland has gone to town over a report that 18 primary school children were ‘whipped’ because they were eating their lunch from buckets.
The Times reported yesterday (30 May 2008) that the chairman of the school saw the children and ordered them into the principal’s office.
The Times quotes an unnamed source,
‘It was in the principal’s office where he whipped the pupils, allegedly with a piece of pipe on their backsides.
‘And after satisfying himself, the chairman walked to his homestead.’
The report says children were ‘crying hysterically’ after the incident.
‘The source said the other pupils in lower grades were traumatised when they saw the seniors in tears.’
Unusually for the Swazi media, the Times did not leave the story there. It realised there was much more of a public interest issue here. It contacted Swaziland Save the Children, where a spokesperson said, ‘The chairman needs to be fired.’ Save the Children said the children’s rights had been ‘grossly violated’.
The spokesperson said the chairman had no mandate to beat the children – according to Swazi law corporal punishment should be meted out by the school principal, or at least in the presence of the principal.
Not only did Save the Children object to the treatment, pupils at the school itself protested. Classes were disrupted as pupils demonstrated around the school premises, demanding an apology from the school chairman, according to the Times.
What makes this report interesting is that it is not that unusual. The Swazi Constitution allows the corporal punishment of children and Swazi culture expects it. From time to time over the past few years there have been reports of adults seriously harming children when ‘punishing’ them. But when the media ask Swazis whether they approve of corporal punishment, the vast majority says, yes.
Unsurprisingly, for this is Swaziland after all, many cite the Bible in defence of their actions.
I suspect that in the case of this primary school, had the principal been the one to dish out the whippings there would have been no story.
In Swaziland it is also legal for children to be sentenced to whippings by magistrates. (I seem to remember somewhere that magistrates had been told to find other methods of punishment, so whipping had fallen into disuse. I can’t confirm this, so I’d be grateful if anyone could enlighten me.)
What I do know is that as recently as 2006 Swazi newspapers were reporting cases from magistrates’ courts at which whipping sentences (more usually referred to as ‘lashings’ by the media) were given.
Although the court beatings are done in private and we don't know much about them, they are clearly brutal.
The Swazi Observer reported (22 March 2006) on one case of a 14-year-old boy sentenced to three strokes.
‘Before the three strokes are administered on the boy’s buttocks, he will be taken to a doctor for a medical check-up. If found to be healthy, the juvenile will then be taken to Mdutjane where the punishment will be meted out.’
Any ‘punishment’ that requires the recipient to have a medical check up before hand must be brutal indeed.
The International Save the Children Alliance - did some research into Swazi children’s experiences of corporal punishment.
Its report found 18 percent of children reported being subjected to corporal punishment by being hit with the hand in the home during a period of two weeks, and 28 percent of children experienced corporal punishment in the form of being beaten with objects such as sticks, belts, sjamboks and whips during the same period.
Boys aged 6 - 12 years described being beaten for breaking things, stealing, not looking after livestock properly, going out to play instead of working, or playing out too late. Young children, mainly girls, were punished for issues related to household chores.
On many occasions corporal punishment was linked to additional punishment such as chores, hard physical labour or withholding food.
A number of children reported being beaten by parents or relatives while the adults were under the influence of alcohol.
Twenty percent of children reported being hit with a hand and 59 percent of children reported being beaten with an object at school during the two-week period. In schools, children are most often hit with the hand, sticks, canes, sjamboks and blackboard dusters.
Children reported being subjected to corporal punishment at school due to making a noise or talking in class, coming late to school, not completing work, not doing work correctly, failing tests, wearing incorrect uniform items, dropping litter, losing books or leaving them at home, etc.
There are a lot more depressing accounts of the routine abuse of children by their parents, caregivers and schools in the report.
To access the report click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment