The Bulawayo Community has called for the use of corporal punishment in schools saying that its abolishment will result in chaos.
Speaking during public hearings on the Education Amendment Bill at Mabutweni Hall, a Bulawayo resident who identified herself as Ms Ndebele said:
Corporal punishment is necessary because as it is we are struggling to deal with these youngsters.
Imagine when they know that teachers cannot do anything to them, it will be chaotic. Teachers must be allowed to spank them but not use fists. It must be reasonable.
Another Bulawayo resident, Xolani Ndlovu called on the government to provide free education. He said:
From ECD to A level, education must be state funded. As it is, it’s parents who are constructing schools, they are forced to buy buses, construct perimeter walls and new blocks for ECDs which must be done by Government on top of the fees they would have paid.
Following the deployment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers at the city’s primary schools, Nokuthaba Ndlovu from Makokoba in Bulawayo said:
We have a lot of teachers who are coming from other regions being enrolled at the colleges when our children here are being left out.
This has resulted in non-Ndebele teachers dominating in our schools and this is killing our language, that issue must be resolved.
The Education Amendment Bill was approved by the Cabinet in February and it was gazetted in the same month.
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True if school children are being given excess freedom then we are heading for a disaster, children should be reasonably disciplined and not abused.
Corporal punishment does not help in producing a responsible citizen. It is only a temporal measure of discipline and it only produces a fearful individual who can not stand on his own later in life. Corporal punishment produces a bitter individual who has a high chance of getting himself into trouble again later in life as an adult. Those are the people who end up filling the jails.
There are many ways of maintaining order in schools and in the classroom. These range from rewarding good behaviour, motivating students, engaging students in activities, teacher learner raport. Most schools have the guidance and counselling departments, these departments have skilled personnel who can help problem students without harming them both physically and emotionally. Corporal punishment only deals with the physical inflicting of pain but the inner person needs to be dealt with as well if we are to produce a well nurtured individual, well groomed citizen.
In most cases teachers who find it necessary to administer corporal punishment are the teachers who do not have good teaching strategies. If the teacher has a well planned lesson and if the teacher knows his content well learners tend to respect that and few cases of indiscipline are witnessed.
Those parents who are giving the teachers the mandate to punish students at school so that the students will behave well at home I think they are missing something here. It should be the other way round. Parents should discipline their own children at home, that will make the work of the teacher pretty much easier. The teacher and the parent should help each other to produce a socially acceptable product. If the parent waits for the teacher to do everything then forget it. Parents play a key role in the child’s behavior. BO MAMA LABO BABA BE MABUTWENI DISCIPLINE YOUR OWN CHILDREN. THINA BO TEACHER ASITSHAYI MUNTU SIYAFUNDISA NGENDLELA ESAFUNDISWA NGAYO UMSEBENZI.