Corporal punishment at Pakistani schools and Madaris.

Today, violence against children in most states is no longer defended in law, though it remains common, as legislation in many countries confirms the "right" of parents and others to impose on them.

Pakistan signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children (UNCRC) on 12 November, 1990 and Article 4 of this article urges that “States shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. After 18th Constitutional Amendment it is responsibility of provincial government to ensure the legislation for protection of children.

But this practice is still continued in almost every government school and Madaris (Religious schools).Pakistan is home to 1.5m street children, 90% of whom have been abused. The most pervasive forms of violence against children include neglect, corporal punishment meted out in schools, seminaries and households; child sexual abuse, acid attacks on girls, child marriages, killing and suicide, kidnapping and trafficking and recruitment of children in armed conflict. Most children at schools across the country, both girls and boys, are beaten. "The law, as it exists now, permits parents or guardians, including teachers, to beat a child in "good intent". This prevented police from acting on complaints of physical abuse. It is also a matter of attitude. Teachers say they need to beat children to teach them, but there is a need to educate teachers and pupils about child rights.

The Pakistan Pediatric Association found last year that over 88 percent of school-going children surveyed reported suffering physical abuse. Experts believe inadequate teacher training, the lack of legislation banning corporal punishment and the perception that it must be used to teach children, are all factors behind the widespread existence of corporal punishment. F.P. report.  According to a field study conducted by Plan Pakistan in Islamabad, Chakwal and Vehari districts recently to gauge prevalence of corporal punishment among 8-18 year old students, and to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of different stakeholder related to this issue, the overall prevalence was found to be 89 percent, while in government schools, it was 91 percent and in private schools, it was 86 percent. Surprisingly, religious seminaries were less prone to this menace as the prevalence of corporal punishment was 83 percent there. It was observed that punishment is practiced during 8 to 12 years age-bracket and the most common reasons are because of the students making noise, fighting or quarreling with their class-mates.

The most common form of physical punishment handed out to children, according to 24% of the more than 300 students who were surveyed, was to be beaten on the palms of the hand with a stick or ruler. Twenty-two per cent said slaps on the face or head were most common. Other popular answers were to be forced to stand or sit in an uncomfortable position, to be struck with a stick or ruler on body parts other than the hand, and to be kicked.

Violence against children remains culturally entrenched as children in Pakistan have to cope with physical violence, sexual abuse, trafficking, recruitment in armed conflicts and acid attacks. In the absence of a national database on violence against children, the report relied on secondary sources to give the prevalence of various forms of violence against children.

According to a NGO advocating the rights of children, 35,000 high school pupils in Pakistan drop out of the education system each year due to corporal punishment. Sahil, an organization working on child abuse cases, compiles data referring it as “cruel numbers” from national and local newspapers to keep the children’s sexual and physical abuse issue alive in the domain of the child protection dialogue. The children, who survive the abuse, often experience guilt, shame, and self-blame. Corporal punishment is the main reason behind the drop out of students from schools. The teachers find it a useful technique to make the students obedient. But in fact for this reason so many children refuse to come in the school. When the teacher beat the students they became afraid of him/her and try to avoid attending the class of that teacher.

Madaris the religious schools are involved in physical and sexual abuse of children. The teachers are addicted to using sticks while teaching Quran. But the government has ignored physical violence in these madaris and serious efforts were taken against it. Use of corporal punishment in Islamic schools literally means to beat the devil’ out of children. Over 70 % of teachers in Pakistan agree with the statement that corporal punishment is useful. The government of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province banned corporal punishment in primary schools in 1999. A year later, the governments of Balochistan and Punjab issued directives to all teachers not to use corporal punishment on children. The Sindh government also issued similar orders in 2007.

But the fact is that, despite a campaign at government level and awareness-raising efforts by NGOs, the directives remain poorly implemented.

The Pakistan Paediatric Association found last year that over 88 percent of school-going children surveyed in Karachi reported suffering physical abuse.

Experts believe inadequate teacher training, the lack of legislation banning corporal punishment and the perception that it must be used to teach children, are all factors behind the widespread existence of corporal punishment.