Corpun file 4353

Times of Zambia, Ndola, 1 September 1999

Corporal Punishment In Schools Stays -- State

By Times Reporter

Lusaka - Government says it has no intention of abolishing corporal punishment in schools. Education Minister Godfrey Miyanda said in Parliament yesterday that corporal punishment was still considered an important form of discipline in cases where all other means failed.

Brigadier-General Miyanda was answering a question from Lunte MP Dominic Musonda (MMD) who asked whether Government had any plans to completely do away with corporal punishment in schools. He said in response to another query raised by Kapiri Mposhi MP MacDonald Nkabika (Independent) that he was not aware of any pupils who had died after being subjected to corporal punishment.

Earlier Education Deputy Minister Betram Mmembe explained that the 1986 Education Act only allowed the headmaster to inflict physical pain as a form of punishment in schools. He said the Act specified that the punishment could only take the form of a stroke of the cane on the palms or across the buttocks and such punishment could only be inflicted by a person of the same sex as the offender.

He said teachers could only administer such punishment on the pupils when mandated to do so by the school headmaster. Mr. Mmembe was responding to a query raised by Kaoma MP Foxy Nyundu (MMD) who asked what the Education Ministry's policy regarding corporal punishment was.