Bringing an end to corporal punishment in schools

By MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz, Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and IPNEd Regional Representative for Asia

MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz is one of eight women out of a total of 342 members directly elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan in the Elections of 2018. Since joining Parliament, she has been vocal in the House on the challenges faced in achieving universal primary education.

For too long corporal punishment has been a scourge on education systems, including in my country of Pakistan. Each day thousands of children go to school to learn and build a better life for them and their family only to face physical violence inflicted by their teachers and other trusted members of school staff.

A study by UNICEF and Save the Children identified 43 types of punishment being used in schools in Pakistan, including smacking, kicking and beating with canes, belts, electric wires and other objects. This in addition to psychological punishment which can be just as degrading and damaging to children, often of a very young age. 

Around the world nearly 720 million school-aged children live in countries where corporal punishment at school remains legal.

Studies show that corporal punishment has severe and long-lasting adverse effects on children's mental and physical health, as well as their development, breeding violence and trauma in later life.

Beatings leave students frightened, injured, and unable to learn effectively 

Inflicted with such trauma some students never step foot in a classroom again. Hunain Bilal, a 17-year-old student in Lahore, had failed to memorize a lesson at school. As punishment, his teacher “punched him repeatedly, grabbed his hair and hit his head against the wall,” according to his fellow students. Hunain died later that day: 5 September 2019.

Hunain’s death is one devastating account of the widespread brutality of corporal punishment.

In recent years, other extreme cases have gained public attention, but despite this awareness, a silent epidemic of violence against children in classrooms has continued.

Corporal punishment is one of the primary reasons why children drop out of school

According to the Pakistani child rights group the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), 35,000 high school pupils in Pakistan drop out of school every year due to corporal punishment. 

This exacerbates the ongoing education crisis facing my country. Nearly 23 million children are out of school, most of them girls, and corporal punishment remains a significant reason for low enrollment and high drop out rates across Pakistan.

Absence of legislation has enabled corporal punishment to go unabated

The greatest hurdle to eliminating this violence in Pakistan’s schools has been the lack of legislation. There was no legislation that criminalized or even defined corporal punishment.

It for this reason why I introduced the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill, which sought to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment in all educational institutions of Islamabad. 

In May 2019 the Bill was passed by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education, which I sit on, but progress then stalled, and discussion on the Bill was withheld for 15 months. When my Bill was finally presented in August 2020 in the National Assembly for discussion and approval, the members of the ruling party opposed it and referred it to another committee. 

Undeterred by this, I worked closely with musician and singer Shehzad Roy and his NGO the Zindagi Trust, which works to reform government schools, and other civil organizations, to build momentum behind my legislation.

At the same time, as an opposition MP, I sought to build a cross-party alliance in support of my Bill, working with members of the treasury and opposition benches and Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari.

© National Assembly of Pakistan

A landmark moment for the children of Pakistan

This week, on February 23, my Private Members Bill returned to the National Assembly and passed with a majority of votes and no opposition from the treasury benches.

I pay tribute to the efforts of civil society, treasury and opposition benches, Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court, Minister Shireen Mazari, Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Shehzad Roy and all others who enabled the passage of the Bill. 

The benefits of this new law will be wide-ranging: helping to protect children from harm, ensuring schools are safe places to learn and building a more peaceful society.

As Shehzad Roy remarked: “When a child gets physical punishment, society is telling them - and an entire generation - that violence is a valid means of resolving a problem. This law will not just protect our children but also lay the foundation for a safer, kinder and more peaceful Pakistan”.

MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz presenting the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill in the National Assembly.

Work remains to protect children from harm

The passing of the new law is a reference point. Beyond that we have to continue to work systematically and repeatedly to change mindsets that legitimise corporal punishment, with parents and teachers, including through national awareness campaings and accountability mechanisms.

I will not rest until all children are in school and learning in a safe environment. In addition to corporal punishment, school-related gender based violence reamins a serious barrier to achieving universal education and equality in Pakistan.

Children in Pakistan also face militant attacks and violence when at school, particularly girls’ schools, and in recent years there has been a surge in indiscriminate attacks on schools and universities, their students, and staff.

© Government of Pakistan

Corporal punishment remains widespread around the world 

So long since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - which enshrines protection from corporal punishment - the law in far too many countries fails to prohibit corporal punishment of children or, worse still, it explicitly authorises its use.

Around the world corporal punishment in schools remains legal in 65 countries that are home to over 700 million children.

I urge my fellow MPs in those countries to follow Pakistan’s lead and end corporal punishment once and for all by legislating against it. Legislation is the key to bringing an end to this violence. This is also recognised by Safe to Learn - a global initiative led by UNICEF - whose first pillar in ending violence against children is ‘implement policy and legislation’.

I hope my account shows that even as an opposition MP, and one of only eight women out of a total 342 directly elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan - that we can all bring about change and make a fundamental difference to the lives of our children. The International Parliamentary Network for Education will work with MPs to legislate to ban corporal punishment in eduction and enact that change.

MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz is one of eight women out of a total of 342 members directly elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan in the Elections of 2018. Since joining Parliament, she has been vocal in the House on the challenges faced in achieving universal primary education. As a member of the National Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs she is also taking forward the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 in the context of education.

Read the full profile on our Global Executive Committee page.