Police in Swaziland / Eswatini
are investigating a report that teachers whipped primary school children to
make them do better in their exams.
Beating is officially banned
in schools in the kingdom but continues to be widely used.
The latest case happened at
St Theresa’s Primary School, Manzini, according to the Times of Swaziland on Tuesday
(6 November 2018).
It reported, ‘According to
statements recorded with the police by a parent of one of the pupils, the main
reason for the whipping was to instil fear among the scholars so that
they could concentrate on their external examinations and do well.’
One parent told the
newspaper his 14-year-old daughter had been afraid to go to school because
pupils had been told they would be beaten.
The Times quoted him saying, ‘To my surprise, my daughter came back
home at around 4:30pm and she had bruises all over her body, especially on her
arms and thighs.’ She needed hospital treatment. A medical report was sent to the
police.
The Times added he said seven teachers beat a number of children with
sticks. He said his daughter reported teachers said, ‘the beating was a
warm-up, which will help them excel in their examination and it will make them
focus.’
Police confirmed they were
investigating.
Corporal punishment in
schools in Swaziland was
banned in 2015 but it is still used widely. In June 2018 teachers reportedly caned every pupil
at Mbuluzi High School for poor performance.
In 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 August 2017 it was
reported that boys at Salesian High, a Catholic school, were forced to take
down their trousers and underwear to
be beaten on the naked buttocks.
In May 2017 pupils at Lubombo Central Primary School in Siteki
were
thrashed because they did not bring enough empty milk cartons to
class.
In March 2017 children at
Masundvwini Primary School boycotted
classes because they lived in fear of the illegal corporal punishment they were
made to suffer. Local media reported that children were hit with a stick, which
in at least one case was said to have left a child ‘bleeding from the
head’.
In August 2016 an eight-year-old
schoolboy at Siyendle Primary School, near Gege, was thrashed
so hard in class he vomited. His teacher reportedly forced classmates to
hold the boy down while he whipped him with a stick. It happened after a group
of schoolboys had been inflating condoms when they were discovered by the
teacher.
In June 2016 the school
principal at the Herefords High School was reported to police after allegedly
giving a 20-year-old female student nine strokes of the cane on the buttocks.
The Swazi Observer reported at the
time, ‘She was given nine strokes on the buttocks by the principal while the
deputy helped her by holding the pupil’s hands as she was made to lie down.’
In September 2015 the Times 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 February 2015 the
headteacher of Mayiwane High School
Anderson Mkhonta reportedly admitted giving 15 strokes
to a form 1 pupil for not wearing a neck tie properly.
In April 2015, parents reportedly complained to the Ndlalane
Primary School after a teacher beat pupils for not following his instruction
and shaving their hair.
See also
Cane banned in Swazi schools
Children fear beatings, miss school
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