Corporal punishment is a crime

The High Court on Sunday observed that students cannot be tortured, intimidated and pressurised, physically or mentally, as per an earlier directive of the court, and we are in full agreement with this. It is a well-established fact that corporal punishment inflicts long-term harm, both physically and mentally, on children as well as on their educational process. It is a practice that is banned in the majority of the developed world, and was also banned in Bangladesh by a High Court ruling in 2011. But despite the ruling, corporal punishment continues to be used in madrasas and schools across the country.

The HC delivered its recent observation after a video of a madrasa teacher mercilessly beating up an eight-year-old child went viral. However, many such incidents have been reported in the media from time to time in the past, illustrating the point that corporal punishment is still being used quite widely in different educational institutions of the country. What is the reason for this? Is it due to a lack of enforcement of the law on the part of the authorities and educational institutions? Is it because of a lack of understanding on the part of educators as to the serious downsides of corporal punishment? Or is it a combination of all these factors? That is something that should be looked into with urgency.

Rights groups certainly tend to believe that the authorities could do more to prevent such incidents from reoccurring. Legal action against the perpetrators should definitely be taken to discourage the practice, and the HC also mentioned in its observation that such action could be taken by educational institutions, the education ministry, the directorate of education, and madrasa and education boards should the law against corporal punishment be violated.

We call on the authorities to uphold the law more diligently and take legal action in every case concerning corporal punishment. Torturing, intimidating and pressuring young children is just morally wrong. And the physical and mental trauma that it causes them may last for a very long time. The government must launch awareness campaigns to make sure that all educational institutions and their staff members are aware of the dangers of corporal punishment and the legal ramifications they would face should they ever resort to it.