EDITORIAL | Why is corporal punishment being dished out at schools nearly 30 years after ban?

Picture the scene — girls and boys in uniform, being viciously lashed across the legs and back by men with sticks or sjamboks while walking into school. 

They cry out in pain, jumping instinctively as the stinging blows land with loud thwacks. A few adults nearby chat causally. 

The beatings were meted out earlier this week by community members, ostensibly because the pupils arrived late, at Soshanguve South Secondary School in Gauteng — almost 30 years after corporal punishment was abolished at schools in South Africa. Hitting, slapping and spanking children is also not allowed at home. 

To add insult to injury the humiliating “punishment” was filmed and the footage shared on social media. 

The provincial education department correctly condemned the incident as an “unacceptable act of violence”. Police are investigating a case of assault and psychosocial support is being provided to affected pupils and staff. Staff and the principal were allegedly verbally abused when they tried to intervene. 

Watching the footage brought back painful memories of being lined up with classmates at an all-boys school in KwaZulu-Natal in the 1980s and being beaten, one after the other, with a cane for not having short enough hair. Sometimes the lashings drew blood. One got the impression a few of the teachers may have enjoyed physically taking out their frustrations over bad behaviour. Those days are, thankfully, long gone — at least in theory.

While we acknowledge the frustrations that may arise from issues such as late-coming, under no circumstances can physical violence or intimidation be justified, especially when directed at children and education officials

—  Steve Mabona, provincial education department spokesperson 

So what did this week's humiliating ordeal achieve? What message did it send to the pupils? If anything, it seemed to backfire spectacularly on Wednesday when they angrily took to the street, disrupting classes and demanding justice for their peers.

The beatings sent the wrong message entirely — namely, that it's acceptable to resort to physical violence if someone is late and that violence can be used to resolve our differences. And this in a society already besieged by violence, especially against women and children. 

There is no shortage of pupil violence, even against teachers, in South Africa. Seven girls from different high schools, aged 13 and 15, appeared in the Johannesburg magistrate's court on Monday for allegedly assaulting a 14-year-old pupil in Yeoville. 

“While we acknowledge the frustrations that may arise from issues such as late-coming, under no circumstances can physical violence or intimidation be justified, especially when directed at children and education officials,” said provincial education department spokesperson Steve Mabona. 

Supreme Court of Appeal judge Ronel Tolmay last year set aside perceived lenient sanctions imposed by the South African Council for Educators on two teachers who assaulted pupils.

The judge noted that legislation outlawing corporal punishment “should have been the end of any notion that an educator is allowed or justified to use any form of physical violence against a learner”. Yet corporal punishment appeared rife, based on the case heard at the time.

“In a society besieged by violence this must be of grave concern, and it cannot be gainsaid that violence as a form of ensuring corrective behaviour should be addressed at its roots,” wrote judge Tolmay.

“In the process of creating an environment that is conducive to the protection and development of children as citizens, who will not resort to violence as a solution to conflict, it is imperative that educators not only be prohibited to resort to physical violence as a form of discipline, but also be assisted to develop the necessary skills to discipline appropriately and with the required measure of personal control.

“It is by example that children are taught to navigate a complex conflict-ridden world, without resorting to violence as a solution.”

Children re-enact what they see adults do. The inescapable truth is that discipline starts at home, cultivating a culture of respect through guidance and appropriate behaviour which trickles into primary and high school where it is reinforced.

The Congress of South African Students Greater Tshwane is demanding a thorough investigation into the incident at Soshanguve South Secondary School. 

“Corporal punishment is ... ineffective. Neither shame nor physical pain have any other effect than a hardening one,” noted the organisation.

We concur.