SWAZILAND: Teachers go on mass caning spree

[6 June 2012] - Teachers at Lusoti Primary School went on a mass corporal punishment spree on all its pupils much to the shock of parents.

Although this happened on April 18 this year, emotional scars have remained, with some of the parents of the pupils saying that the teachers went too far. They wanted the Ministry of Education and Training to examine the matter closely.

The school’s principal, Khanyisile Shongwe, admitted in an interview yesterday that this indeed happened and even apologised to the parents.

She was, however, surprised that some parents had not let this matter be put to restm because they had contacted the Times of Swaziland.

A parent, who preferred to remain anonymous, read through a letter to the editor that the pupils were beaten while at assembly for making noise. What this parent found disturbing, however, was that only a few students were making noise, yet, all the pupils from the first to senior grades were caned upon orders given by the Principal. 

The parent said: "My question to the Principal is why then beat all the innocent children, especially those in the lower grades?"

Fear

The parent also alleged that this was done with the help of the school cook, who decided to grab the children who were pushing backwards in fear of being caned.

"The principal had the guts to tell the pupils that ‘tifangamvuyinye’ (they all suffer for one). What is that really? How can you beat pupils in Grades I to Grade III as if you are beating someone who is in Grade VII?" wondered the parent.

Furthermore, the pupils were allegedly made to stand under the scorching sun for an hour and ordered to sing.

There was an allegation that some pupils even collapsed as a result of this.

As if the teachers enjoyed this episode, the parent alleged they told the children that they were grateful for being able to mete out corporal punishment before the begining of first term holidays.

Meanwhile, the principal said she and the administration realised that what had happened was wrong and called parents to a meeting at the beginning of the second school term.

"No parent approached the school to formally lodge a complaint, but we took the initiative to apologise.

"We don’t condone corporal punishment in this school but it may happen that some teachers do it covertly," she said.

Further Information:

• POSITIVE DISCIPLINE: Alternatives to corporal punishment - creating a good school without corporal punishment (Raising Voices, May 2012) 

• CHINA: Teacher made students slap each other as punishment (11 January 2012)
• CRIN's Forms of Violence page on **Physical punishment**
• More on children's rights in Swaziland