The Swaziland Government is
being sued for E2.5 million (US$185,000) after a child was maimed by a teacher
who was dishing out corporal punishment.
It comes after a series of
cases of excessive and illegal beatings have been reported in the kingdom.
Former Principal Secretary
at the Ministry of Education and Training Pat Muir told a workshop that the
parents of the child in Northern Hhohho was suing the Ministry of Education and
Training. The Swazi Observer
newspaper reported on Wednesday (11 October 2017) he said, ‘Today, I am
reminded of a parent in Northern Hhohho who is currently suing government under
the ministry of education and training about E2.5 million. This is because the
teacher punished and maimed a child.’
The newspaper said, ‘He
added that the Ministry of Education and Training has a number of cases in all
regions of the country where teachers have been accused of assaulting pupils
under the banner of corporal punishment.
Muir was speaking at a
workshop on ‘positive discipline’ designed to sensitise ministry officials on
alternatives to corporal punishment which was banned in Swaziland schools in
2015.
He did not give details of
the cases but there are a number on public record. As recently as September
2017 it was reported that an 11-year-old boy
from Ekuphakameni Community Primary School in the outskirts of
Hlatikhulu lost an eye when a cane his schoolteacher was using to
illegally beat other pupils broke and splintered.
In
2011, 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. She was injured when her teacher was
hitting another pupil, with a stick which broke.
Another pupil in Swaziland was thrashed so
hard that he later collapsed unconscious and had to be rushed to a clinic. Six
pupils at Mafucula High school 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.
In September 2015, the Times of Swaziland reported a 17-year-old school pupil died after
allegedly being beaten at school. The pupil reportedly had a seizure.
In March 2015, a primary school teacher at the
Florence Christian Academy was charged with causing grievous bodily harm
after allegedly giving 200 strokes of the cane to a 12-year-old pupil on her
buttocks and all over her body.
In 2011, it was reported girls at Mpofu High School were
being flogged by teachers on their bare flesh and if they
resisted they were chained down so the beating could continue. They were said
to have been given up to 40 strokes at a time. The Swazi Observer
newspaper reported at the time the children said ‘that when they are beaten,
they are made to strip naked on the lower body so that the teachers can beat
them on bare flesh’.
One girl told the newspaper, ‘The teachers make us lie
on a bench whereby if you are a girl you lift your skirt so that they can beat
you on bare flesh, if you resist you are chained to the bench.’
Muir told the workshop
which was hosted by the Save the Children Swaziland at the Pigg’s Peak Hotel the
ministry was working towards eradicating all violence at schools, as well as
addressing the negative impact that corporal punishment had on children, who
started to hate school.
He said, ‘As a ministry, we
have noted that corporal punishment acts as a barrier that keeps children away
from school, and our job is to remove that problem in order to achieve the
targeted 100 per cent child education goal. Currently, we are training
educational officers on positive disciple, unfortunately we still have many of
our officers who are not well versed about positive discipline because they are
strong believers in the proverbial saying, “spare the rod spoil the child”, but
during teacher preparation in teaching college, the ministry of education and
training never taught a teacher how to beat children.’
See also
CHILDREN FEAR BEATINGS, MISS SCHOOL
CANE
BANNED IN SWAZI SCHOOLS
TEACHERS
BEAT BOYS ON NAKED BUTTOCKS
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/teachers-beat-boys-on-naked-buttocks.html
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