Student teachers want corporal punishment back

THE Council of Student Teachers (COST) has called on Parliament to revisit the corporal punishment ban at school saying it is the major contributor to the rise in child delinquency.

Corporal punishment was outlawed in 2017 through a High Court ruling that declared article 60(2)(c) of the Education Act unconstitutional.

The court said corporal punishment is violence against children

COST president Walter Muzawazi yesterday tweeted: "For the sake of the future of our children, students and youths, corporal punishment as proposed by Senator Tambudzani Mohadi (Matabeleland South) and Senator Chief Witness Chikwaka should be legalised in schools. The increase in youths in prisons for murder, rape, malicious damage to property, physical/domestic violence as well as theft is all because of the ban on corporal punishment."

Last week, senators decried a rise in youth delinquency, saying laws should be aligned to the country's cultural values and norms.

Chief Chikwaka said young people were engaging in drug abuse because of the ban on corporal punishment.

"Our children have become rogues, to the extent that they can even use a knife on you. We continue to emphasise and hammer on that which is destroying our children," he said.

Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure said debate on the issue of corporal punishment was on-going among teachers.

"There are countless ways of punishing our children other than corporal punishment, which inculcates a culture of violence in our children. They will grow up deploying violence as a means of resolving conflicts and disputes," he said.

Section 53 of the Constitution states that no person may be subjected to physical or psychological torture, or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.