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Spare the child, spoil the rod; calls mount for education reforms
The principal of the Gungamuwa Primary School leaving court. Pic by Saman Kariyawasam
The alleged abuse of Milleniya schoolchildren by school authorities and Police officers has once again exposed how terribly vulnerable children are even in an environment where they should feel safe.
The Education Ministry has issued multiple circulars instructing principals not to subject students to any form of physical punishment. The last such circular, issued in 2016, again stresses that physical punishment is outlawed in schools and recommends alternative methods of maintaining discipline among students. This includes stripping them of certain privileges for indiscipline and involving parents or guardians if the offence is severe. Yet more often than not, students are still subjected to varying degrees of physical punishment by teachers.
The principal of the Gungamuwa Primary School along with a Police Inspector and a Sergeant of the Milleniya Police were granted bail by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. They were released on two personal bails of Rs. 1 million each. They had been in remand custody since November 8 after being produced in court by the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA). The vice principal and a Police constable arrested with them were released on bail earlier.
Following the incident, the principal has been interdicted while the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Milleniya Police has been transferred.
The matter, which began with a teacher’s complaint that she had lost some money kept in her handbag, allegedly led to a group of Grade 5 students being assaulted, first by the principal and vice-principal, and subsequently by the Police. Three students were allegedly removed from the school in a Police jeep, and victims have given statements to the NCPA claiming the officers subjected them to electric shocks.
Statements given by the principal and the vice principal confirm that they subjected the children to “physical punishment,” NCPA Chairman Udayakumara Amarasinghe told the Sunday Times.
There are also allegations that parents of some students who had allegedly been abused and who had complained to the NCPA have come under pressure to withdraw the complaints. One mother has lodged a complaint with the Bandaragama Police claiming she had been threatened while walking on the road.
Any attempt to intimidate victims and their families is a serious offence under the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act, Mr Amarasinghe said. Those arrested under such charges will be produced before a high court. If remanded, they can only apply for bail from the Court of Appeal.
The normalisation of violence as a form of punishment is considered to be widespread in schools, homes and institutions across the country, states a 2017 Country Discussion Paper on Violence against Children in Sri Lanka. It was compiled by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs in partnership with UNICEF.
Reaffirming that corporal punishment in schools was unlawful, the Supreme Court last year ordered an art teacher from Puhulwella Central College to pay Rs 150,000 as compensation to a student who sustained permanent lifelong hearing damage after being hit across the ear.
“Encouraging corporal violence normalises violence, undermines the dignity of a child, and inflicts trauma in children which is reflected in unhealthy and disruptive behaviour as adults,” Justice S Thurairaja said in a ruling supported by Justices Sisira J De Abrew and Murdu N B Fernando.
Corporal punishment is an “intergenerational cycle”, former NCPA Chairman Prof. Harendra de Silva said, noting that he had read social media comments by reputed professionals justifying the Milleniya incident. When a child is subjected to such abuse, the trauma that he or she undergoes is embedded in the brain. These thoughts come out as an adult and then that person too becomes an abuser, using similar justifications to one they heard when they were young, he explained. “There has always been a cultural justification for corporal punishment, but you can’t control the extent of the damage you inflict because you are angry as you were subjected to similar punishments when you were young.”
Section 308(A) of the Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1995 prescribed a mandatory jail term for those found guilty of committing cruelty to children.
“The Act does not clearly define what these atrocities are. The lack of a clear definition has given room for perpetrators to escape punishment. This is frustrating as all that is needed is for the authorities to introduce a legal amendment explaining what these offences are,” Prof. De Silva further said.
The other main concern is the weakness in implementation of the law. It requires the concurrence of multiple parties including the NCPA, Police and the judiciary. Unfortunately, except for the judiciary, some of those charged with implementing the law tend to sympathise with those accused of committing such abuses, he remarked. “As such an attitudinal change is needed in society. It can’t happen overnight, but it is a must.”
Sri Lanka’s education system, too, is to blame for situations such as the Milleniya incident, said Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne, Director General of the National Institute of Education (NIE).
“Our education system is teacher-centric and exam-oriented. We have neglected to provide social and emotional training to teachers and students. The system is more about who is right, rather than what is right. Many teachers believe children should unquestioningly accept what they say and resent those who question them,” he remarked.
He also said a generational gap among teachers might also be a factor in such attitudes as a majority of teachers today would have been born before 2000. “Many would have been born in the 1970s and 80s, where attitudes were vastly different.”
The government, though, was hopeful that new education reforms will vastly change the attitudes of both students and teachers alike. A new curriculum is to be launched as a pilot project next year for Grades 1, 6 and 10, with full implementation happening in 2024. It will be piloted in Grades 2, 7 and 11 in 2024 and implemented in 2025. Authorities hope to have the new curriculum taught for all ages by 2030. The curriculum for teacher training too will be changed concurrently, Dr Nawaratne revealed.
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