Importance Of Child Punishment In Ethiopia

I. Introduction

Children need nurture and guidance of their parents and caretakers in all areas of development in order to grow properly according to their age. The main aspects of development areas include physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social. Child discipline plays an important role in nurturing and guiding children in the process of the above mentioned developmental aspects. People in different cultures understand child discipline in many different ways. Corporal punishment is considered as a proper method of child discipline in some cultures and many children are suffering because of it. The below definition adopted by Plan International explains what corporal punishment is and how it is practiced;

Corporal punishment

Ethiopia is party to both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which consider the protection of children from physical and humiliating punishments as one of their basic rights. The constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia clearly states that the child should be free from physical punishment in schools and child care institutions. The school discipline directives of the Ministry of Education also clearly prohibit the use of physical punishment in the schools. In spite of all these, physical and humiliating punishment of children is still prevalent not only in homes and communities but also in schools. Physical and humiliating punishment of children is not only a violation of the rights of children as enshrined in the international conventions and the Ethiopian constitution, but it has also been found to be harmful to the growth and development of the child. Its effects as a means of disciplining children have also been found to be negative. (“Corporal Punishment,” 2011, p.

Some of the common forms practiced at home are pinching ears and body parts, slapping on the face, hitting on the head, flogging with belts, electric wires, ropes, hitting with sticks, biting, even beating while tied, burning parts of the body, forcing to inhale pepper smoke and choking. The common forms of physical punishment in schools are kneeling down in class, going around school compound with bare knees, beating with rulers, bending and holding ears, twisting pen between fingers, and flogging with rubber strings while other students are told to hold tightly the hands of the student being beaten and many more inappropriate