English World

Suhakam wants schools to reject corporal punishment on pupils

PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is concerned that schools may impose corporal punishment on pupils following the Education Ministry’s proposal to give them more authority in managing and addressing disciplinary issues.

In a statement on Saturday, Suhakam expressed concern over the proposal, which is part of an amendment to the Education (School Discipline) Regulations 1959.

“The Commission is deeply concerned that such methods will include corporal punishment, particularly since the Child (Amendment) Bill 2015 now substitutes the punishment of whipping on male child offenders with community service,” said Suhakam secretary Rodziah Abdul.

Suhakam said while many believed corporal punishment is an effective form of discipline, numerous research has shown that it causes children to lose interest in learning and can lead to lifelong psychological damage.

“The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that Malaysia ratified in 1995 explicitly requires states to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence (Article 19) and from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 37).

“More importantly, the CRC in Article 28(2) requires that school discipline be administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity and in conformity with the Convention,” said Rodziah.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations in 2007, urged Malaysia to outlaw all forms of corporal punishment in the home by way of legislation as well.

It also called for Malaysia to immediately abolish all forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments, including caning and other forms of corporal punishment imposed on criminals under the age of 18 years and as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions.

“In line with the Committee’s recommendations, the Commission calls on the Government to fully protect and defend the rights of children, to reject such disreputable forms of punishment for children, and give full respect to the dignity of children; as well as to be diligent as regards meeting its international human rights obligations, consistent with the CRC,” said Rodziah.

“The Commission also advises parents, teachers and care-givers to use positive discipline strategies in their upbringing of children which reject the use of corporal and/or physical punishment,” she said.-thestar

Komen & Pendapat
Facebook
Twitter

Terbaru


!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");