Today I will be talking about the use of corporal punishment in schools under the law in Nigeria. The position of the law on the use of corporal punishment in schools has been topsy-turvy in Nigeria for a while due to recent bans of its use in schools in various countries of the world. In fact, Nigeria recently committed to banning its use in schools despite the provisions of section 295(4) of the Criminal Code, which allows its use.
Under section 252, the offence of assault is defined as the application of force on a person without his consent or with a fraudulently obtained consent resulting in injury or discomfort. Section 295, however, provides that the use of force without the consent of the person on whom it is used will not be an assault if it involves the correction of a child by the parents or teachers, as long as the punishment does not lead to a wound or to grievous harm, the punishment is reasonable, the child is capable and does understand the purpose for the punishment, and in the case of the teacher, the parents have not given clear instructions to the effect that they do not want corporal punishment applied to their child.
These provisions, however, have been violated with impunity, as a study* I conducted in August shows. According to the study, 79 out of the 112 respondents had experienced or witnessed corporal punishment being meted out that resulted in an injury, sickness, or death in a Nigerian school, a staggering 70.5 percent! This violation, dear reader, is the backbone of the gross violations of human dignity in Nigerian schools today.
I was, however, left confused when, although 60% of the respondents believe that the use of corporal punishment in Nigeria is not in line with human dignity and 64% of the respondents believed the use of corporal punishment in Nigeria constitutes torture, cruel, or degrading treatment under the provisions of various human rights documents, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 60% of the respondents still believed that corporal punishment should not be legally banned in Nigerian schools but should be retained with clearly defined limits.
The prevailing belief in corporal punishment could be attributed to its religious and cultural approval. According to Proverbs 22:15: “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” The use of the rod seems to justify the use of corporal punishment. This does not, however, mean that corporal punishment should be used without restrictions.
Also, recently, the parent of a former student of my mom’s school*, who just got admitted into the university, called to thank her for how she helped his child overcome his fear of reading. The child had told his parents that this was due to the fact that my mom did not cane him while he was struggling with reading, and this further affirmed my belief that corporal punishment should be permitted only in extreme situations after other methods have been applied.
I believe that the use of corporal punishment should be allowed under the law in clearly defined situations and to be administered by clearly defined categories of persons, but even if it were to be legally banned, the current situation in schools shows the negative consequences of the lack of public enlightenment and implementation of education laws. According to the study, 56% of those who had indicated that either or both of their primary and secondary schools were not aware of the provisions of the law believed that knowledge of the law would have made school a much better experience for them and other students.
In conclusion, the use of corporal punishment in schools in Nigeria is one that still requires more robust research, one in which the views of all relevant stakeholders are taken into consideration, public enlightenment and implementation.
*The contents of the Google form used for the study can be accessed here.
*My mother owns a low-cost school in Ikire, Osun State, and is my role model for providing affordable education services through her school.
