Now imagine sweet Ronak lining up at school in front of all her peers only to open her hands and be slammed on her palms with a ruler by a certain ‘teacher’. Why? Because yesterday she forgot to cut her nails. My friend’s son, six years old, abhors something called mathematics, because his teacher pulls his ears when he gets answers incorrect.
Believe it or not there are other issues laying in our society aside from the IS and an economic crisis.
I write in resentment. Who do I blame? Her parents for not going to school to lodge a complaint? The principal for not condemning the teacher’s action (or was it the principal herself who slammed that firm ruler into her red palms?) or do I blame our Ministry of Education?
It hurts to my bones to realize corporal punishment in schools across the Kurdistan Region is still prevalent. Put my sympathetic heart aside, scientific research proves this method results in more harm than good.
The existence of corporal punishment in schools reflect the catastrophe of the education system that is in place. It reflects the failure of our schools and even more the failure of teachers in fulfilling their duty to educate the next generation. When a teacher or a school principal can not implement an alternative method aside from physical abuse to deal with misconduct then something is definitely not right.
Thousands of social workers are employed in schools across the Kurdistan Region. In fact, at least two in each school are assigned to work with students who misbehave or have issues at home affecting their behavior and learning at school.
Some countries have abolished the practice of corporal punishment at school for over a hundred years.
This should be banned. In fact, it is most likely outlawed but the phenomenon continues because those practicing this are not penalized. It would be a good idea to punish them. A slap in the palm of their career perhaps?
There is no room for tribal solutions here. Teachers should not be able to freely grant themselves parental rights. Even though physical abuse of children should not even be a parental right.
This all makes me laugh in disgrace. As I write this I am doing a research on edutainment and playful learning. Methods to involve entertainment into learning and school curriculum of our children. It will be foolish of me to think the same teacher who has the mind and heart to physically abuse her students will believe in entertainment as a form of education.
It is time we eradicated our children’s feeling of fear and hatred towards school. It is time we bring joy, happiness, and enjoyment to school life. If our education system has a gap, if the way we raise our kids at school is flawed, then the next generation will only take Kurdistan back.
Yes, ISIS is around the corner. Yes, there is an economic crisis. Yes, there are disputes between the central and regional government and yes, teachers have not received salaries for months on end. But no, physical abuse to children at school is a red line. It is shameful to think in this day and age our kids are being smacked, slapped and their ears pulled while at school.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
