In the latest in a long line of cases of physical
abuse of children at schools in Swaziland, a headteacher reportedly gave a boy
15 strokes of the cane after he was caught not wearing his necktie correctly.
The Times
of Swaziland reported the
headteacher Mayiwane High School Anderson Mkhonta ‘admitted unleashing 15
strokes to a Form 1 pupil’.
The newspaper reported, ‘Mkhonta says he gave the strokes
in intervals, as permitted by the law governing the administration of corporal
punishment.’
The Times said the headteacher accused the
boy of three offences: not tucking in his school shirt, not properly wearing
his necktie and for being seen outside class during lessons.
The
newspaper reported Mkhonta told the pupil that he would treat each of the
offences separately, stating that a certain number of strokes would be given
for each of the three offences and then he administered 15 strokes on the
pupil’s buttocks.
The abuse
of children in schools has a long history in Swaziland. The headteacher at Salesian
Catholic High School, Swaziland forces
boys to lower their trousers so he can beat them on their bare buttocks.
Outraged
parents reported head teacher Petross Horton to the Swaziland Action Group
Against Abuse (SWAGAA). Parents described the bare-bottomed beatings as,
‘indecent harassment and brutality’.
Although corporal
punishment of children is legal in Swaziland, there are rules about how it can
be administered, which do not include floggings on the bare flesh.
Teachers across
Swaziland regularly ignore the regulations and abuse schoolchildren.
In 2012, Save
the Children Swaziland condemned teachers at Lusoti Primary for beating all
the children at the school after one pupil made a noise in assembly.
In October 2011, the
same group told
the United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review held in Geneva that
corporal punishment in Swazi schools was out of control. It highlighted
Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland where it said pupils were ‘tortured’
in the name of punishment. It said, ‘Teachers can administer as many strokes
[of the cane] as they desire, much against the limit stipulated in the
regulations from the Ministry of Education.’
In a separate case, girls
at Mpofu High School were flogged by teachers on their bare flesh and if
they resisted they were chained down so the beating could continue. The girls
reported they received up to 40 strokes at a time.
In
another
case, a 10-year-old girl at kaLanga Nazarene Primary school was blinded for
life in her left eye after a splinter from a teacher’s stick flew and struck it
during punishment. And she was not the child being punished. She was injured
when her teacher was hitting another pupil, with a stick which broke.
Children at Emtfonjeni High School were whipped with up to 10 strokes of a stick, because their school fees have not been paid. A majority of the pupils at the school are orphaned and depend on government to pay for their fees.
Children at Emtfonjeni High School were whipped with up to 10 strokes of a stick, because their school fees have not been paid. A majority of the pupils at the school are orphaned and depend on government to pay for their fees.
A
pupil at Mafucula High school was thrashed so hard that he
later collapsed unconscious and had to be rushed to a clinic. Six pupils were
thrashed with 20 strokes of a ‘small log’ because they were singing in class.
It was reported
that the boy who became unconscious was not one of those misbehaving, but
he was flogged nonetheless.
The principal at
Elangeni High, even publicly
flogs adults who date pupils at his school. The men are forced to attend in
front of the entire school, lie down on a bench and receive a whipping. The
girls are also flogged.
See also
SCHOOL
FLOGS BOYS ON BARE BUTTOCKS
SWAZI
SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS
CHILDREN
CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE
PROBE
VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS
SCHOOL
FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL
SCHOOL
HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS
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