Enugu parents frown at corporal punishment in schools

A cross section of parents in Enugu with children in primary and secondary schools have called on school authorities to jettison corporal punishment and instead adopt counselling while correcting errant scholars.

The parents, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Thursday, said that corporal punishment was outdated and not the best way to correct errant children.

Mr Sam Udekwe, a parent and Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ,  Enugu State Council, said that corporal punishment was no more acceptable by the society.

“What is happening in schools is an extension of what happens at home.

“The strategy of managing human beings needs to be applied and that should start from the home.

“I am averse to corporal punishment because it is now outdated owing to our modern way of living,” he said.

Udekwe called for the use of guidance and counselling in schools to help build the wellbeing of the scholars.

Mr Ikechukwu Okoronkwo, another parent and an erstwhile international boxer, said that children needed proper guidance and to be taught the truth about life.

According to him, children’s negative behaviour would best be curtailed by telling them the truth about life.

“I do not believe in meting harsh punishment on them but I believe in the democracy type of training and teaching.

“Most times, children could be wrongly beaten and inflicting physical injury on a child amounts to hatred by the teacher, thereby leaving a vacuum between the teacher and the learner.

“Once there is hatred, the relationship between the teacher and the learner will be in jeopardy,” he said.

Norbert Okolie, a parent and Rangers FC Public Relations Officer (PRO), said that corporal punishment helped to some extent but not the final solution.

He said that parents had a lot of responsibilities at home to ensure the children were properly guided at the early stage of their lives.

“No doubt, introducing corporal punishment will help but a lot needs to be done by parents, rather for them to be chasing after money.

“Proper home training will go a long way to ensure that our children imbibe good morals from home before being refined by the school,” he said.

Mrs Maureen Ikpeama, a civil servant said that counselling was what the modern era required and should be used properly, considering the age of the learners.

“Some students or pupils may not even understand the reason they are being given corporal punishment because they cannot correctly interpret their misbehaviour.

“Besides, the teacher should be a role model of the behaviour they want from their wards as many of the latter now learn from what they see,” she urged.

Mrs Chinwe Ukaejiofor, Principal, St. Bartholomew Secondary School, Asata, Enugu, said there were many ways of handling errant learners and that the punishment to be meted out depended on the gravity of the offence committed.

Ukaejiofor said that some misbehaviours needed to be traced to the home of the student to ascertain the cause.

“In spite of the existence of other forms of correction, we cannot remove corporal punishment because that is the only language some students understood.

The Head Teacher of the Nursery Section of the school, Mrs Evelyn Obiora, said that a child at the nursery school level needed close monitoring.

According to her, some of the children’s misbehaviour required prompt discipline in order to curb them and that is where corporal punishment comes in.

“Corporal punishment is not meant to be used all the time because it scares away children, “she noted.

Obiora pointed out that developing a cordial relationship with the children makes it easy to detect awkward behaviour from them.

The Head Mistress of Richard Nursery and Primary School, Asata, Mrs Maureen Ude, said the best way was to be friendly with the learners.

“We do not use corporal punishment these days because a child can open up to you when he or she is relaxed.

“As for the adolescents, we counsel them on the right things to do as using corporal punishment can make them go wild,” Ude noted.  (NAN)