Teachers in Swaziland /
eSwatini have been reminded in a new government policy statement that corporal
punishment of children in schools is outlawed.
It was banned in 2015, but
children continue to be beaten, sometimes brutally.
The reminder comes in the
National Education and Training Sector Policy from the Ministry of Education
and Training (MoET) which comes into force in January 2019. It said children
should be taught self-discipline and respect for others without fear. All forms
of corporal punishment should be replaced by non-violent ‘positive discipline’.
Despite the ban beating is rife in Swaziland schools.
As recently as November 2018 it
was reported police were investigating St Theresa’s Primary School, Manzini, following an
allegation that teachers whipped children to make them do better in their
exams. In
June 2018 teachers reportedly
caned every pupil at Mbuluzi High School for poor performance.
In August 2017 it
was reported boys Salesian High, a Catholic school, were forced to
take down their trousers and underpants to allow teachers to beat them on the
bare buttocks.
In 2011, Save the Children made a submission
on corporal punishment in schools to the United Nations review on
human rights in Swaziland. It said punishments at Mhlatane High School in
northern Swaziland amounted to ‘torture’.
In an overview of the situation in Swaziland schools
Save the Children reported ‘The hitting of students by teachers in schools is
not limited to strokes of the cane, but includes such methods as a slap with
the open hand, kicks and fists.
‘In one case in a school in the south of Swaziland, a
young girl was kicked in the groin by her teacher after she refused to lift up
her leg during physical education classes. She had told the teacher she cannot
lift her leg up because she was wearing nothing underneath. This angered the
teacher and earned the girl a kick in the groin.
‘The damage occasioned led to paralysis as the girl
walks with difficulty today, and her menstrual cycle was disturbed since then.
Although initially protected by the principal and other Ministry of Education
officials in Nhlangano, the teacher was eventually arrested after intervention
by the girl’s elder sister.’
In a debate in the Swazi Parliament in March 2017
members 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.
See also
Swaziland police
investigate report children illegally beaten to encourage them to do well in
exams
Children
chained and flogged bare
Children fear beatings, miss school
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