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The High Court in Bangladesh has ordered the government to stop corporal punishment in schools. It comes after a 10-year-old boy, who had allegedly been beaten by his teacher, committed suicide last week. The court has also asked the education authorities to report within two months on measures taken to investigate and punish cases of corporal punishment. Corporal punishment was outlawed in Bangladeshi schools in the 1990s, but beatings of pupils remain widespread. Dignity 'violated' Recently, a seven-year-old student at a religious school was chained up for repeatedly misbehaving. At another school in the south of the country, eight students were taken to hospital after being caned for not bringing coloured pencils to the school. The court in the capital Dhaka has ordered the government to immediately instruct all primary and secondary schools to stop carrying out corporal punishment. Many teachers argue that some form of corporal punishment is needed to keep order in their classrooms. But activists say it violates children's dignity and damages their development. Further information