Corporal Punishment in Schools: A Narrative Analysis of Contemporary Situation

Abstract

The environment at home, school, social circles, and key life events all have an impact on students’ wellbeing in the formative years. The tremendous familial and societal pressure placed on pupils to be high academic achievers is a prevalent factor in the Pakistan’s context. Scoring marks is the primary goal, particularly in South Asian culture where students’ performance has been reduced down to competitive testing formats. High grades on progress cards have been linked to a better likelihood of gaining admission to prestigious schools, resulting in a promising career and future. Security, family pride, and social position have all been connected to these factors. With this perspective, parents, often impose unrealistic expectations on the child and in schools, teachers deliberately or unintentionally use the corporal punishment to achieve and maintain the discipline and good grades of the students which negatively affect their behaviors and regress them academically (Nair, 2014). This narrative review-based paper explain why teachers are using corporal punishment as the terminal solution for most of the problems despite of legislation against corporal punishment in schools through “Prohibition of corporal punishment Bill, 2014”? This paper concluded that teachers are unable to abide this law effectively due to their personality traits tagged with their own aggressive childhood experiences. Therefore, it was suggested that in order to eradicate the corporal punishment from schools, teachers’ psychological well-being assessments and their counseling may be way forward to achieve the students’ well-being.