Boys at a Swaziland school
say they are forced to take down their trousers and underpants to allow
teachers to beat them on the bare bottom.
The pupils at Salesian
High, a Catholic school, say they are beaten with a plank.
The Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the
kingdom, reported on Wednesday (2 August 2017) that parents and children had
reported the incidents.
The newspaper said, ‘Some
of the disgruntled pupils alleged their teachers caned them on their buttocks
using a plank and a piece of piping that is used to connect the big gas
cylinders to stoves.’
One parent was reported
saying, ‘I saw my child while he was inside the bathroom and he was badly
scarred. When I asked him what had happened, he told me that he had been
whipped at school by one of the teachers. He further advised me not to go to
the school as he feared being victimised or sent home.’
The Times said the boys were beaten for various offences including,
arriving at school late or eating sweets.
Corporal punishment in
schools was abolished after numerous cases of brutality were reported across
the kingdom.
In 2011, Swaziland was told
by the United
Nations Human Rights Periodic Review held in Geneva it should
stop using corporal punishment in schools, because it
violated the rights of children.
But the practice of whippings and floggings was so
ingrained in Swazi schools at the time that the top teachers’ union official
said he was surprised that inflicting corporal punishment was against a child’s
rights.
The United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review received
a report jointly written by Save The Children and other groups that corporal
punishment in Swazi schools was out of control. The report highlighted Mhlatane
High School in northern Swaziland where it said pupils were ‘tortured’ in the
name of punishment.
The report stated, ‘Students at this school are also
subjected to all forms of inhumane treatment in the name of punishment. The
State has known about the torture of students that go on at Mhlatane High
School for a long time, but has not done anything to address this violation of
fundamental rights.’
Sibongile Mazibuko, President of the Swaziland
National Association of Teachers (SNAT), was quoted in the Times of Swaziland saying as teachers they had been underestimating
the impact corporal punishment had on children rights.
‘It came as a surprise what impact corporal punishment
has in terms of violating children’s rights. In fact, we were not aware we are
violating children’s rights. The submissions by the countries and the criticism
received by the country during the meeting was an eye-opener that corporal
punishment should be abolished,’ the Times
quoted Mazibuko saying.
In a debate in the Swazi Parliament in March 2017
members of parliament called for the cane to be brought back into schools. The MPs said the positive discipline adopted in
schools was causing problems for teachers because they no longer knew how to
deal with wayward pupils.
The latest incident is not
the first time Salesian High School has been in the news
for beating boys on the bared buttocks. In August 2013
headteacher Petross Horton was reported by the Times of Swaziland saying on ‘rare
occasions’ he had to force boys to lower their trousers so he could punish them
on the flesh. He said he had to deal with cases of smoking and absconding of
classes.
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 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.
See also
CANE
BANNED IN SWAZI SCHOOLS
SWAZI SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS
CHILDREN CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE
PROBE VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS
SCHOOL FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL
SCHOOL HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-head-publicly-flogs-adults.html
