A male head teacher of a
school in Swaziland has been arrested and charged for allegedly beating an
18-year-old female pupil on the buttocks with a black pipe.
The Times
of Swaziland reported
on Tuesday (14 November 2017) that the woman who it did not name was
beaten because she had not had her hair cut as instructed by the school.
In Swaziland corporal
punishment is banned in schools. As an 18-year-old the woman is legally an
adult.
The newspaper, the only
independent daily in the kingdom, reported she was left with ‘serious injuries’
to her buttocks and hand. She attended Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital
for treatment. It allegedly happened at Lozitha High School.
Corporal punishment is widely
used in schools although it was banned in 2015. In October 2017 it was reported
the
Swaziland Government was being sued for E2.5 million (US$185,000) after a
child was maimed by a teacher who was dishing out corporal punishment.
Former Principal Secretary
at the Ministry of Education and Training Pat Muir told this to a workshop on
‘positive discipline’ designed to sensitise ministry officials on alternatives
to corporal punishment. He also said that the Ministry of Education and
Training had a number of cases in all regions of the country where teachers
have been accused of assaulting pupils under the banner of corporal
punishment.
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.
See also
CHILDREN FEAR BEATINGS, MISS SCHOOL
CANE BANNED IN SWAZI SCHOOLS
TEACHERS BEAT BOYS ON NAKED BUTTOCKS
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