🌱 Is corporal punishment legal in south african schools. What is corporal punishment in South African schools?. 2022-11-17 (2023)

Corporal punishment is the use of physical force, such as spanking or paddling, as a means of discipline or punishment. In South Africa, corporal punishment in schools has been a controversial issue for many years. While it was once a common practice, it is now illegal in South African schools.

The use of corporal punishment in South African schools has a long history, dating back to the colonial era. It was seen as a way to discipline students and maintain order in the classroom. However, over time, it has been increasingly criticized as a form of violence that can cause harm to children.

In 1996, the South African government passed the South African Schools Act, which prohibited the use of corporal punishment in schools. This act was a significant step towards protecting the rights of children and promoting non-violent forms of discipline.

Despite the prohibition on corporal punishment, it has been reported that it still occurs in some schools. In 2013, the Department of Basic Education conducted a survey that found that about 20% of teachers in South African schools still use corporal punishment as a means of discipline. This is a concerning trend, as it suggests that there are still teachers who are not following the law and are using violence as a way to discipline students.

There are several reasons why corporal punishment is not an effective or appropriate form of discipline in schools. It can cause physical harm to students, leading to injuries and long-term physical or emotional damage. It can also create a culture of fear and aggression in schools, which is not conducive to a positive learning environment. In addition, corporal punishment does not teach students how to solve problems or make good decisions, and it can actually lead to more behavioral problems in the long run.

Alternative forms of discipline, such as positive reinforcement, restorative justice, and social-emotional learning, have been shown to be more effective in promoting positive behavior in students. These approaches focus on teaching students how to make good choices, rather than punishing them for misbehaving.

In conclusion, corporal punishment is not legal in South African schools. While it was once a common practice, it has been widely recognized as a form of violence that can cause harm to children. Alternative forms of discipline, such as positive reinforcement and restorative justice, are more effective in promoting positive behavior and creating a positive learning environment for students.

Enforcing corporal punishment ban in S Africa’s schools...

As shown above, corporal punishment is expressly prohibited by Section 10 of the Schools Act, and thus educators who use corporal punishment may be subjected to disciplinary proceedings by the Department of Basic Education alternatively, such educators could face criminal charges of assault. Your parents are also under a lot of pressure. Are you punished by your caregivers or disciplined? The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. Spanking a child is an ineffective way to discipline children and exposes them into an aggressive environment. Each state within the country has its own laws governing the use of physical punishment, and these laws can vary widely.

Is Corporal Punishment Legal in Schools?

The practice of spanking often correlates with children developing into violent adolescents. Each school has a set of guidelines and procedures when it comes to Child Safety. Violence in schools: discipline. Abolition of Corporal Punishment Act 33 of 1997 South African Government. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. However, many experts agree that it is not as effective as other forms of discipline, such as positive reinforcement, and that it can have negative consequences.

What is corporal punishment in South African schools?

It was outlawed in the Republic of Ireland last year and has been banned in France since World War I. Opponents of corporal punishment argue that it is ineffective and can actually lead to more behavioral problems. As there is no similar defence in legislation, criminal provisions against assault now apply equally to children. The Prohibition of corporal punishment 1 No person may administer corporal punishment at a school to a learner. Researchers polled 3,743 grade 8 pupils from 24 public schools in Tshwane. More severe forms of spanking, such as switching, paddling, belting, caning, whipping, and birching, involve the use of an implement instead of a hand.

Corporal Punishment in South African Schools Free Essay Example

This type of punishment models the use of aggression and violence, teaching children it is acceptable to use violence. Punitive measures against students lead to low self-esteem, poor anger management, and poor self-management skills. Recent media reports have implicated a prominent school in an array of allegations, largely contending the use of corporal punishment by certain members of staff against learners. This state can cause a child to have a very strong emotional feeling of anger, and humiliation. Learners tend to assault other learners whenever the thoughts of what they experience at home may arise, in this manner they bring what they have seen or heard at home in the school environment.

Is corporal punishment allowed in South African schools?

This cookie tracks the advertisement report which helps us to improve the marketing activity. Ask yourself if you sometimes behave in a manner that makes it difficult for your caregivers to approach you. A study done by Murray Strauss was conducted to see if spanking increased antisocial behavior in children. After the incident, the teacher went on to intimidate one of the victims to try to prevent the child from reporting the incident. The cookie is used to give a unique number to visitors, and collects data on user behaviour like what page have been visited. As a result of all that the children did not do so well in school, because they were afraid of the teachers and they kept quiet even if they didn't understand the lesson. If this route doesn't work for you, he says, "It is completely acceptable, if you as a parent, choose to take matters further to the police, once your initial attempts of approaching the school have failed as in this case.

Corporal Punishment in Schools, what do we actually know?

EXAMPLE 1: In 2012, a group of Grade 4 learners were disciplined for not doing their homework. Children can be tiring sometimes, to compensate these parents and teachers ought to be arduous when dealing with them. Parents have long spanked their children as a form of discipline, but is it legal to hit your child in all 50 states? His duty was to blow the whistle when the train reached his station and ask the train driver to stop the train as there are many people who have bought tickets. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form. Are you talking through problems? Educators and learners have to learn the importance of mediation and co-operation, to seek and negotiate non-violent solutions to conflict and differences and to make use of due process of law.

Schools are still using corporal punishment: What are parent's rights?

Are parents allowed to chastise their children in South Africa? The applicants rather argue for a more considered, child-centred policy guideline for disciplinary processes. A lot of children find it difficult to talk to their parents – but it works both ways. According to the SACE, by ordering the review, the court is usurping the role of the SACE and thereby violating the separation of powers doctrine. To top it all, there is a lot of peer pressure nowadays. Second, corporal punishment is harmful to students. Good morning Parent24, Last year was a very difficult year for us as a family we constantly attended hearings at schools where teachers were chasing learners away from school for refusing to be beaten by teachers on their hands and bums, and lots of verbal abuse.

Corporal punishment still rampant in schools, and boys are main targets

It does not improve student behavior and in fact may actually lead to more disruptive and violent behavior. First and most important is to know thatcorporal punishment is illegal in South Africa. In 1995, in S v Williams , the Constitutional Court declared the provision in the Criminal Procedure Act in respect of juvenile whipping to be inconsistent with the values of the Constitution. To date the SACE has not provided any reasons for its decisions. Second prize, he said, would be to call an urgent meeting at the school to say that the child will return to school, based on the undertaking that this type of abusive behaviour will cease. He acknowledged that this is a challenge, but it is not completely insurmountable. The main aim of teaching and learning is to culminate to some point of achievement, but what success can be deduced when learners end up dropping out of school? The cookie is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.

Corporal Punishment

The Court found that: The right to be free from all forms of violence or to be treated with dignity, coupled with what chastisement does in reality entail, as well as the availability of less restrictive means, speak quite forcefully against the preservation of the common law defence of reasonable and moderate parental chastisement. The wording of the provision is clear and concise and certainly required no further interpretative scrutiny by the Courts. Corporal punishment includes hitting a minor with a hand or any object, but is not restricted to this. In any event, your first step should be to contact the school administration. Corporal punishment in public schools was banned in 1914, but remained de facto commonplace until 1984, when a law banning all corporal punishment of minors, whether in schools or in the home, was introduced. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.