Committees will be formed in all Punjab Educational Foundation (PEF) partner schools in the Rajanpur district and will be sensitised about the negative consequences of corporal punishment.
Parents, teachers and community members will comprise the bodies.
The sensitisation is part of Plan International’s anti-corporal punishment programme for the PEF partner schools. The programme has been introduced in collaboration with UK Aid and ILM Ideas (Advocacy and Innovation Funds for Education in Pakistan). According to a press release, the PEF will introduce the mechanism for banning corporal punishment in more than 100 partner schools across the province. About 30,000 girls and boys are expected to benefit from the programme.
Plan International’s Country Programme Manager Farrah Naz – who was speaking at a seminar, Corporal Punishment’s Redressal System – said that the purpose of introducing the institutional mechanism in schools was to make people aware about the adverse impacts of corporal punishment and to address the issue by developing a system to respond to complaints. She hoped the programme would help improve the quality of education, ensure child-protection, lead to an increase in enrollment and eliminate corporal punishment.
The seminar was organised by Plan International and UK Aid Network on Thursday.
In his speech, PEF Chairman Raja Anwar urged teachers to treat students with kindness. Children imitate what they see, he said. Discipline can be instilled without resorting to a beating. “They shouldn’t be subdued or humiliated as that affects children’s physical, mental and intellectual growth,” said Anwar. The personality of the child should be moulded in such a way so as to ensure a bright future, he advised principals of PEF partner schools in Rajanpur. He added that the provincial government had already banned corporal punishment in all schools in the province. He hoped the initiative would infuse greater self-confidence in young students.
Besides Naz and Anwar PEF Law Officer Uzma Saeed spoke on the occasion. Plan International officials, principals of PEF partner schools in the Rajanpur district and representatives of the civil society also attended the seminar.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2013.