Is corporal punishment still desirable?

By Florence Nwosu
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Corporal punishment is a punishment intended to cause physical pain to a person, most often practiced on minors especially at  home and school settings. Historically, it has also been used on adults, particularly on prisoners and enslaved people; it is also a punishment for crime by inducing or inflicting pain and injury which comes in the form of flogging, branding, slapping, spanking, punching, kicking and even mutilation. In many western countries, medical and human-rights organizations oppose corporal punishment  for children because they see  it  as not just cruel but inhuman.

In the late 20th century, it was abolished from the legal systems of most developed countries, although its legality in the 21 century differs by jurisdiction as it is still practiced in some parts of Africa.

We often relate to how bad or ugly a situation is judging from what the law says concerning such, therefore, for corporal punishment to be legally banned in some parts of the world nevertheless, could be a pointer to its non-desirability.  But can we then say that such being practiced in some parts of the world and not in others also mean it is desirable? The legality of this type of punishment in Nigeria can be seen in Article 295 of the Criminal Code (South), Article 55 of the Penal Code (North) and the Shari’a Penal Codes in the Northern states which confirm the right of parents to use force to “correct” their children.

In the deposition of Mrs. Bolaji, a counselor,  she said there are two types of parents which are;  the abusive ones and those that are not abusive. “An abusive parent will definitely punish an unsuspecting child severely because such a parent sees a child’s slight misbehaviour as hideous; whereas such acts will be pardoned by another parent who is not abusive. So, corporal punishment though not desirable may not end because of such parents. Most parents practice corporal punishment on their children as a reaction to stress, rather than a response to discipline. They see that as an outlet to vent out their frustration, which really has no impact on correction of the cause of misbehaviors, children will not be able to learn their mistakes but will develop thick skin which overtime makes them to think it is a funny or child’s play and not a serious punishment”.

The admission of a psychologist, Mr. Utabi Tobias, was in sync with what an educator said concerning the desirability of corporal punishment, according to him,  teachers and school authorities should not discipline a child to the point of abuse via corporal punishment, because doing so will result to their losing the respect and admiration of the child. “Talk, talk more, if it does not work yell, yell at the child because the central thing is to get their attention; once the attention of a child is gotten, it is as good as winning a war before the fight, but do not hit a child either with the hand or any other  object such as belt or cane as such graduates from disciplinary action to child abuse”

A teacher who wants to remain anonymous said “School authority figures should aim to gain the respect of their pupils by supporting them through every possible outlet,  while teachers should aim at being  their pupils’ inspiration and not their fear.  By allowing any law that promotes corporal punishment to continue, we make way for excess punishment, and child abuse, with infinite negative effects on Nigeria’s future generation. There is a thin line between corporal punishment and child abuse and most parents cross that line unknowingly. Routine discipline may cross the line to become physically abusive if parents cannot control their anger, unable to judge their own strength, or are unaware of children’s physical vulnerabilities”.

Spare the rod and spoil the child has been an age long adage, therefore parents perceive what they did to be culturally normal and effective, not minding if by using corporal punishment they are not teaching the youths of today how to verbally express their feelings and they are being left ill-equipped to cope.

An anonymous parent however, was of the opinion that corporal punishment is desirable in some instances, because some children are stubborn. In her opinion, “If you do not flog or even slap some children, they will never listen or obey you, so there is nothing wrong with it, but a parent should not kill a child in the name of punishing the child”.

A child psychiatrist, Dr. Dimeji while addressing the issue of corporal punishment hinted that it is not a good one and therefore parents and  guidian  should desist from such act as children act out their feelings rather than verbally express them, he stated that there are many reported cases of children losing their ability to hear, sustaining broken limbs, and even total incapacitation due to corporal punishment. On proffering a way forward, he stated that there is nothing wrong with flogging an erring child on the palms of his hands and not necessarily to cause injury, but advocating further, he said “Talking to them about their mistakes can yield more result than we can even know, it does not have to be about giving them scars all in the name of training them, again, they should be taken to hospitals because some cases may have a medical link to it. While children may fear the repercussions that come with corporal punishment, they do not get to learn why and how not to repeat their faults”.

Nwosu is a Corps member, serving with The Hope.