Lagos State has banned bullying and flogging of students in government secondary schools in the state. We know this through a statement made by Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, the Commissioner for Education in the state. She said that the state government has put a stop to all forms of corporal punishment in its public schools and is vehemently against bullying in schools.
Folashade Adefisayo, who was represented by Mrs Adumasi Bosede, a Director in the Ministry, made this known at the scientific conference of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, Yaba in Lagos State on Wednesday, May 25th
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the programme was themed “Corporal Punishment in the Modern African Setting”, with the Sub-theme: Examining the Scientific Evidence behind Corporal Punishment”
Adefisayo, who also posed as the special guest of honour at the event, defined “Corporal Punishment as any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pains or discomfort, however light on the receiver.”
She spoke against the height of corporal punishment in schools and homes, which she sees as resulting to negative outcomes in most cases. She also mentioned how corporal punishment have in some cases led to the death of students. In her words:
“There had been occasions whereby corporal punishment given by a teacher to a child either in form of flogging or bullying had eventually led to the the death of the child, thereby implicating the teacher.
“To avert such ugly incidents, including other negative effects of corporal punishment; there is a policy in Lagos State prohibiting teachers from inflicting corporal punishment on students and pupils in schools.
“Meanwhile, there are other alternative ways to discipline and correct children, which are being adopted in the schools,” she said.
Dr Tolulope Bella-Awusah, Head of Department, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UCH, Ibadan, also said that corporal punishment is bad for the mental health and brain functioning of a child. Bella-Awusah, who was also a guest-speaker at the event, said that what children need is discipline and not punishment. She said,
“Scientifically, using corporal punishment such as flogging or beating is not an effective way to correct children, because it makes them to be aggressive, drug abusers or stubborn in life.
“So, there is no need to beat children with the intention to correct them because its effects will manifest later in their lives,” she said.
Speaking, Dr Babatunde Salako, the Director-General at the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), said that corporal punishment had become a norm, which would be difficult to stop.
“The Nigerian society uses corporal punishment to correct bad behaviours in children.
“The truth is that there are some bad behaviours, which if you do not apply corporal punishment, such a child may not stop nor change from his or her bad habits.
“No matter what you do, people will still lock up their children and beat them if they do bad things.”
He concluded that there is the need for more scientific evidence to the reasons why corporal punishment must be stopped in the Nigerian society.
