Sir Frank Peters: Corporal punishment can earn no respect II

In Part One of this brutally frank no-holds-barred interview with renowned anti corporal punishment crusader Sir Frank Peters, he advised teachers and imams to be more human, interact with the pupils in an amicable ‘we’re in this learning adventure together’ and help create an encouraging, positive atmosphere in which the teachers and pupils want to be.
In Part Two, Sir Frank continues his noble crusade and advises teachers and imams to be positive and encouraging with their approach, for the best results attainable.
The first rule of any teacher should be to ENCOURAGE…ENCOURAGE… ENCOURAGE and show this in their facial expressions as well as the words they speak How does a teacher of imam win pupils over to their side?
SFP: The greatest craving of mankind is to be appreciated. Show children an appreciation for their efforts and it does wonders for their esteem and their determination to improve. To tell a child his work is of low quality or no good is totally negative, destructive, and serves no useful purpose whatsoever.
To tell a child, ‘hey, that’s not a bad effort, but I think you could do much better’ has magical beneficial powers (even if the work isn’t all that good).
The first rule of any teacher should be to ENCOURAGE…ENCOURAGE… ENCOURAGE and show this in their facial expressions as well as the words they speak.
The second rule is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER to knock someone’s effort. Nobody knows what capabilities lies under a child’s skin. The largest undiscovered territory in the world lies under a child’s thatch of hair.
1. Corporal punishment is mostly being used and condemned in lower-class institutes and madrasas; even if a law is passed do you think it would change the outcome?
SFP: A law on paper alone damages the environment by wasting nature’s valuable resources on which it is written. A law, any law, is only good if it is implemented properly. The same applies to circulars.
Teachers need to be reminded of the behaviour required of them. I suggest hanging a copy of the circular in the Head Teacher’s room, the Teachers’ Common Rooms and in a public area for the pupils to read and know their rights.
2. What can be effective ways to stop madrasas from abusing the children, how can we change the views of the teachers and guardians?
SFP: First and foremost the education system itself needs to be viewed under a magnifying glass and changes made. There are people within the system who do not qualify as teachers and have never gone through teachers’ training. This has to stop. A brown envelope to the local government representative or headmaster by someone in need of a job, does not qualify anyone to become a teacher. If there is a major shortage of qualified teachers, then open more training schools and the problem will resolve itself in five years and the nation will benefit enormously. The Coronavirus epidemic is offering Bangladesh and many other countries, the rare opportunity of putting right all the wrongs they’ve been practicing in the education system. The ‘Business as Usual’ signs needed to be replaced with ‘New and Improved’ to meet world demands. This is no longer 1971.
There is still a lot of illiteracy; ignorance and superstition in Bangladesh and many ‘teachers’ and imams are put on pedestals that should not be allowed within a 100-miles radius of the premises. To cover up their own shortcomings as teachers, they try to beat the lessons into the children as if it were they, the children, who were the ones at fault.
Many parents who know no better are at fault for taking the side of the teachers/imams who can bamboozle and run rings around them with seemingly important expressions and alleged wisdom. The children are not given their due dignity and rights under the penal laws.
If every loving father and every loving mother who believes or have proclaimed, that their children are gifts from Allah, it makes no sense whatsoever that they, or allow anybody else, such as a ‘teacher’ or imam, to abuse and damage them. They would be failing in their duty to God and society.
The Saudi Royal Family, for example, do not own the Holy Mosques, they’re merely custodians of the mosques. Parents do not own the children they nurture; they, too, are mere custodians.
One may wonder if the child will be the one on trial in Allah’s heavenly court for any misbehavior on earth, or if it will be the parents for their failure to guide properly.
Protection is one of the basic needs and rights of all children. To deliver a child, gifted from God, daily to a school or madrasa where knowingly corporal punishment and other abuses are happening is irresponsible and reprehensible.
3. Even if schools and institutes stop corporal punishment, households are still heavily practicing, and children have either normalized it or are too fearful to speak up. Even educated parents are practicing this without realizing it’s wrong, why is that happening?
SFP: Anybody who has reared children as I have, know only too well it can be a hair-tearing experience at times. Their game isn’t to drive you up the wall, as they sometimes successfully do, but how far up the wall! This can trigger a corporal punishment reaction as a quick and easy solution.
Sometimes ‘this will hurt me more than it will hurt you’ is spread generously on top, as if that would justify the sordid action.
However, there is NO justification for hitting a child – NEVER! The question needs to be asked, which one is the child and which is the adult, the responsible one. Adults know it’s wrong for an adult to hit an adult, so what would make it right to hit a child, someone so vulnerable and defenceless?
Because it’s done in the home (for the present) parents see no wrong in the teachers inflicting corporal punishment on their offspring, and they do likewise to their children and the vicious circle of ignorance continues.
Not only in Bangladesh, but in many parts of the world, corporal punishment has been practiced by adults for years only because they knew no better. It was passed down from generation to generation and people accepted it as ‘normal’ without giving it a second thought.
The world in which we now live is an IT smartphone, tab, laptop and computer orientated. The world is becoming smaller and smaller and information savvy. Very little happens on one side of the world without the other half learning about it instantly. The airways are jam-packed with information highways and social media has made everyone a private publisher.
4. Corporal punishment might be the cause of ignorance, but is that a valid reason anymore with the amount of research and information available?
SFP: Bangladesh is still backward in many regards. The information is available, but access to it is very limited. We’re all waiting for Joy to wave his magic wand and provide every school with laptops/computers, and Internet as I understood was his noble mission years ago. Don’t know how advanced his plan is.
5. Is there an acceptable form of corporal punishment?
SFP: No!
6. What is the difference between corporal punishment and physical abuse?
SFP: Any form of corporal punishment from even the slightest slap to the body of another person IS physical abuse and, in some cases, it is assault and bodily harm, and grievous hurt in some cases according to the Penal Code.
When there is prima facie evidence of a cognizable offence, then police must prosecute!
When being beaten children do not have the power to fight back, or their words may be dismissed. What initiatives should be set in order to help the children?
SFP: That’s not necessarily true. Everyone has power, but many don’t know they have or don’t use it. Power is only power when used.
When Supreme Court Justices Md. Imman Ali and Md. Sheikh Hasan Arif outlawed corporal punishment in schools and madrasas throughout Bangladesh in 2011, I gave a talk to group of youths advising them of their new rights, which empowers them.
Some days later one of the boys, Rajowl Karim, was called to the front of the class to be given corporal punishment and he announced to the teacher it was against the law. Rajowl was told to sit down and nothing more was said! Another boy, Rabbi, who was badly beaten by a ‘teacher’ came to me for help. I advised his father to go to the school, face the ‘teacher’ and tell him it’s against the law and never to do it again. The father did and the boy never had a bad experience after that.
If you do not assert yourself, some people will walk all over you. It’s important to speak out and refuse to be trodden upon. People are only powerful by your consent.
When the honourable justices Imman Ali and Hasan Arif performed their noble patriotic deed, they described corporal punishment as: ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child’s fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom’.
Those immortal words have since been rubber-stamped as a slogan in anti corporal campaigns worldwide.
12. How can parents who are against corporal punishment protect their children at schools or madrasas?
SFP: At the beginning of the school year the mother, father or both should go to the school accompanied by their child/children. Introduce themselves to all the teachers who will be involved with the education of their children. Offer the teachers their support and make it very clear they are against corporal punishment and never want their child to be hit. If there’s a problem at school to telephone them and they will resolve the issue in the home.
If the ‘teacher’/imam fails to uphold his end of the agreement, the father (preferably) should go to the school, meet with the errant teacher/imam, and remind him of his agreement. Generally, this needs to be done only once. People who hit children are bullies. If you stand up to a bully, they will melt away like butter in the sun.
This also tells the child he is not alone. He/she is loved, protected, and can rely upon his/her parents for support if/when needed.
Some ‘teachers’/imams need to be reminded that corporal punishment has passed its use-by date, removed from the shelves and confined to the bin even if it were once (erroneously) the panacea to all their problems.
Under the law, no child, being a minor, has the power to consent to anything, least of all to be beaten by the teacher or Imam. No parent can give consent to/instigate the teacher to beat any child.
Every child is a saint in kit form... just needing proper assembly and tender loving care and guidance. There’s absolutely no mention of corporal punishment in the instructions manual.
(Sir Frank Peters is a former newspaper and magazine publisher and editor, an award-winning writer, a humanitarian, a royal goodwill ambassador and a long-time friend of Bangladesh. Three Bangladeshi boys have been named ‘Frank Peters’ in his honour.)