School Heads Debate Corporal Punishment

Bring back corporal punishment.

This appeal rang loud and clear at the 131st Fiji Principals Association Conference and annual general meeting held at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Suva yesterday.

The heads of schools continue to appeal for this to be reintroduced.

This call by the Holy Cross College principal, Tomasi Takala, followed the faith-based principle raised by the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, Professor Jito Vanualailai.

Mr Vanualailai was one of the first speakers who urged all heads of schools to go back to the faith-based principles which encompassed values and morals that governed the behaviour of children then.

He said discipline and respect then was forged from religious beliefs that united many.

“Teachers are the inheritance of ensuring that the legacies of the past were held and transitioned well in the present and the future,” Mr Vanualailai said.

Mr Takala, in agreement, asked how corporal punishment fit into that precedent, as it was used at that time as well.

“While I respect human rights and the policies that banned corporal punishment in our country, there needs to be some form of punishment to help guide students,” he said.

“It’s not that it should come with brutality, but to some extent.”

The idea was not supported by the professor, who believed there were other ways to discipline children.

“There is some research that supports the idea that corporal punishment only makes children more difficult to handle,” he said.

“Although I was a product of corporal punishment myself, I didn’t raise my kids the same way, and they turned out to be doing well too.”

Mr Vanualailai said the solution lies in how children were taught, starting from home before anything else.

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