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Kids complain about being beaten with sticks, machetes and boards
Children's Advocate begs teachers, parents to stop hurting them
BY TANEISHA LEWIS Observer staff reporter editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
SOME primary school children have complained that they are being flogged by their teachers, whose implement of choice range from a piece of a tyre to pieces of boards and sticks.
CLARKE... we want our schools to be a safe place for children
"Sometimes teacher fling the duster after me," one student said during a child consultation put on by the Office of the Children's Advocate (OCA) at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville last Wednesday.
Some also complained about severe corporal punishment at home, noting that they were beaten with machetes and pieces of board. They also bemoaned the fact that they received harsher floggings from step parents.
The close to 50 students attending the session represented over 16 primary schools in St Elizabeth, Clarendon and Manchester.
During a group session with 25 students, most of them they were also verbally abused and were flogged for fighting, bad behaviour and disrupting classes. The students said they also received flogging for tearing out book leaves and passing notes during class.
Another student told facilitators that her classmate was flogged by a teacher because he brought a machete to school to "chop" another student whom he was in conflict with.
But the youngsters not only spoke out against their teachers, but their peers who they said fought constantly and disrespected teachers.
"Some of them curse the teacher and they want to fight the teacher," one student said. Another child said he witnessed a pupil showing a teacher the middle finger, which has derogatory connotations.
While corporal punishment has not been outlawed in schools, Section 61 of the Early Childhood Commission Act prohibits corporal punishment being inflicted on children, between age zero and seven, while the Child Care and Protection Act protects children in places of safety, childrens' homes and in the care of a persons deemed fit by the courts.
But surprisingly, some of the students conceded that while children who misbehave sometimes deserve to be spanked, they outrightly condemned disciplinary actions which borders on abuse.
"I think that if we didn't get beatings then we wouldn't behave ourselves, but we should not be abused," a very outspoken student said.
At the same time, Mary Clarke, Children's Advocate, told the Observer the complaints were a little bit different in the consultations in Ocho Rios. She said students spoke about teachers denying them break-time and play time when they get a low grade. However, she said the consultations were not to blast teachers, but to come up with ways to implement interventions.
"We don't want to bash the teachers we want to partner with them to deal with these problems," she explained. Meanwhile, Clarke said males and females at the Ocho Rios consultation also talked about sexual abuse by taxi drivers and the use of indecent language in these cabs.
Clarke, however, said it must not be denied that there are students who are perpetrators in violence and abuse in schools. Citing data from the Safe School Programme, Clarke said between September 2006 and May 2007, four guns and 128 offensive weapons were seized during 2,317 interventions in 115 schools across the island.
"We are concerned that violence and abuse represent the greatest challenge. It is sad for me that children are also perpetrators of violence and abuse," she told the gathering. "We want our schools to be a safe place for children. We want our schools to be a place where there is no hurt. Please teachers, do not hurt the children."
The consultations are being carried out in a bid not only to educate teachers and students about the role of the OCA and the stipulations of the Child Care and Protection Act, but to translate the data into policy advice for the government.
Children's Advocate begs teachers, parents to stop hurting them
BY TANEISHA LEWIS Observer staff reporter editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
SOME primary school children have complained that they are being flogged by their teachers, whose implement of choice range from a piece of a tyre to pieces of boards and sticks.
CLARKE... we want our schools to be a safe place for children"Sometimes teacher fling the duster after me," one student said during a child consultation put on by the Office of the Children's Advocate (OCA) at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville last Wednesday.
Some also complained about severe corporal punishment at home, noting that they were beaten with machetes and pieces of board. They also bemoaned the fact that they received harsher floggings from step parents.
The close to 50 students attending the session represented over 16 primary schools in St Elizabeth, Clarendon and Manchester.
During a group session with 25 students, most of them they were also verbally abused and were flogged for fighting, bad behaviour and disrupting classes. The students said they also received flogging for tearing out book leaves and passing notes during class.
Another student told facilitators that her classmate was flogged by a teacher because he brought a machete to school to "chop" another student whom he was in conflict with.
But the youngsters not only spoke out against their teachers, but their peers who they said fought constantly and disrespected teachers.
"Some of them curse the teacher and they want to fight the teacher," one student said. Another child said he witnessed a pupil showing a teacher the middle finger, which has derogatory connotations.
While corporal punishment has not been outlawed in schools, Section 61 of the Early Childhood Commission Act prohibits corporal punishment being inflicted on children, between age zero and seven, while the Child Care and Protection Act protects children in places of safety, childrens' homes and in the care of a persons deemed fit by the courts.
But surprisingly, some of the students conceded that while children who misbehave sometimes deserve to be spanked, they outrightly condemned disciplinary actions which borders on abuse.
"I think that if we didn't get beatings then we wouldn't behave ourselves, but we should not be abused," a very outspoken student said.
At the same time, Mary Clarke, Children's Advocate, told the Observer the complaints were a little bit different in the consultations in Ocho Rios. She said students spoke about teachers denying them break-time and play time when they get a low grade. However, she said the consultations were not to blast teachers, but to come up with ways to implement interventions.
"We don't want to bash the teachers we want to partner with them to deal with these problems," she explained. Meanwhile, Clarke said males and females at the Ocho Rios consultation also talked about sexual abuse by taxi drivers and the use of indecent language in these cabs.
Clarke, however, said it must not be denied that there are students who are perpetrators in violence and abuse in schools. Citing data from the Safe School Programme, Clarke said between September 2006 and May 2007, four guns and 128 offensive weapons were seized during 2,317 interventions in 115 schools across the island.
"We are concerned that violence and abuse represent the greatest challenge. It is sad for me that children are also perpetrators of violence and abuse," she told the gathering. "We want our schools to be a safe place for children. We want our schools to be a place where there is no hurt. Please teachers, do not hurt the children."
The consultations are being carried out in a bid not only to educate teachers and students about the role of the OCA and the stipulations of the Child Care and Protection Act, but to translate the data into policy advice for the government.