violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“The teacher slapped the students that skipped his lesson because they wanted to go to the library to dosome research. The noise was really loud in the corridor. I witnessed the scene and was scared. I stillcannot forget the sound of the slaps on their face.”Student, 16, Indian Ocean subregion, 2006 III116Violence against children in schools and educational settingsThere are still countries where many leaders,educators and parents believe that educationwhich teaches children to question and thinkfor themselves brings children into conflictwith the established customs upon which thefamily and community have been based forgenerations. 19Change in disciplinary practices in schools hasbeen especially slow in some countries whereresources for education are severely stretched atthe same time as education systems are beingasked to absorb ever-increasing numbers ofschool-goers. Laws are gradually improving 20but even where laws ban corporal punishmentthey are not always effectively enforcedand often not initially supported by prevailingsocial attitudes. Prohibition of corporal punishmentneeds to be accompanied by effectiveinitial and in-service training in behaviourmanagement and school organisation whichrespect children’s rights.Nature and extentof the problemWhile the status of every country’s progresstoward abolition of corporal punishment inhomes, schools and penal systems has beenmapped, research and analysis pertainingto other forms of violence in schools is notnearly so far advanced. 21 Most studies havelooked at one or, at most, two forms of schoolviolence and not at the multiple dimensionsof that violence and the links between schoolviolence and phenomena outside of schools,such as violence in families and society as awhole.Forms of violence in schoolsThe forms of violence found in schools areboth physical and psychological, and usuallyoccur together. Forms perpetrated by teachersand other school staff, with or without theovert or tacit approval of education ministriesand other authorities that oversee schoolsinclude corporal punishment and other crueland humiliating forms of punishment or treatment,sexual and gender-based violence, andbullying.Forms of violence perpetrated by childreninclude bullying, sexual and gender-based violence,schoolyard fighting, gang violence, andassault with weapons. Technology provides anew medium for bullying using the Internet andmobile phones, and has given rise to new termssuch as ‘cyber-bully’ and ‘cyber-bullying’.Physical and psychologicalpunishmentThe Committee on the Rights of the Childdefines ‘corporal’ or ‘physical’ punishment asany punishment in which physical force is usedand intended to cause some degree of pain ordiscomfort, however light. Most involves hitting(‘smacking’, ‘slapping’, ‘spanking’) children,with the hand or with an implement.But it can also involve, for example, kicking,shaking or throwing children, scratching,pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears,forcing children to stay in uncomfortablepositions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion(for example, washing children’s mouthsout with soap or forcing them to swallow hotspices). 22