Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Spanking school pupils for deviant behavior has been frowned upon by human rights organizations in every country. In some parts of Africa though, the practice is yet to go away. The Nigerian government has just reintroduced canning or what is commonly referred to in Ghana as ‘lashing’ in schools.
The reasons given for this are the high rate of indiscipline in schools and perhaps too much freedom which usually leads to unrest when students make demands. Nigeria’s energy minister announced this after cabinet had met and decided that more discipline needed to be instilled in students to reduce the many cases of chaos in schools. Students often resort to violence in reaction to decisions taken by school authorities. The reintroduction of caning in schools might deter radical students from engaging in violent activities or perhaps joining violent militia groups.