Educate teachers to deal with ill-disciplined learners

Recently, there has been an increase in the usage and access of information, especially by school learners concerning their rights.

Basically, nothing can be hidden from the Namibian child anymore as they now fully understand their human rights through access to information on the internet.

As a result of this, there has been an increase in the reported cases of corporal punishment filed against teachers even though the 1991 judgment of the Namibian Supreme Court in Ex Parte: Attorney General of 1991 clearly closed the area as a no-go in the Namibian education system.

Namibia’s National Safe School Framework Part B: a practical guide for building safe schools defines corporal punishment as an act of punishment by physical pain of a child in school by either stroke, hitting, smacking with a ruler, cane and all other forms of pain-inducing activity.

Landmark

The Ex Parte: Attorney General was a judgment delivered after concerns were raised that the government authorities were regulating instructions on how to impose corporal punishment in schools. However, after independence, it was concluded that a Namibian child should not live in fear of attending school due to the beating they might receive for not having complied with the regulations of the very same school.

The judgment reflected the new era of a truly liberated Namibia and was delivered to address the issue of concern at the time, which was that the education ministry passed a code that permitted whipping as an act of discipline of learners.

The judgment referenced article eight of the Namibian Constitution and pointed to seven different forms of punishment: (a) torture, (b) cruel treatment, (c) cruel punishment, (d) inhumane treatment, (e) inhumane punishment, (f) degrading treatment, (g) degrading punishment.

Then Chief Justice Hans Berker stated that although the Namibian Constitution makes provision for derogation, that was not applicable to article eight. He emphasised further that if anyone is found violating the article by infringing and practicing any of the acts that fall within the seven permutations, it should be met with consequences.

The judgment concluded with a statement from Berker, who said any form of corporal punishment inflicted on a child in government schools is considered to contradict article eight of the constitution. Berker added that once it has been found that corporal punishment impairs human dignity, the actual act can never be tamed as the executer’s state of mind can never be predicted in such a condition.

Ripple effect

The judgment is not the only reason for teachers to refrain from using corporal punishment. The act of inflicting corporal punishment on a learner has been associated with many consequences, such as stress, school dropouts, high failure rates, and conflicts between the learner, the teacher and the parent.

The aim of basic education is to empower the Namibian child to actively participate and contribute to Namibia's becoming a knowledge-based society. This cannot be attained in an environment in which the learner child feels deprived.

Even though there have been arguments against the 1991 judgement, with some saying it did not address the infliction of corporal punishment in private schools or even religious schools, it is every schools moral obligation to ensure that the child is disciplined according to the norms that are acceptable to their society.

In a 2016 court case, Van Zyl v The State, the court concluded that it would be illogical for the judgement of 1991 to be interpreted as only valid for children in government schools and not for private schools, because the issue of concern is the dignity of the Namibian child.

Concerns

Despite the above-mentioned efforts of the government to protect the dignity and rights of the Namibian child, there have been reports that most of the children have considered these rights as a free ticket to behave as they will.

Some of these behaviours have included high rates of absenteeism; alcohol and drug abuse in schools; laziness; conflict with teachers; insults; vandalism; and, on some rare occasions, contradicting behaviour of what is expected from a learner in a school.

Thus, the effect of such behaviour has proven challenging to some educators, as most of them are not aware of various alternative ways of imposing discipline other than corporal punishment.

To conclude the subject, it is evidently clear that there is a need for a remedy in terms of disciplining the Namibian child, especially in secondary schools.

Most of the learners found in the higher grades have seriously proven difficult to manage and at times disturb the main aim of school, which is to teach and learn, because most of the time is taken up by disciplinary methods.

In addition, even if corporal punishment is not allowed in the Namibian education system, it is still a practice that remains behind closed doors.

Thus, the ministry needs to propose an informative way to educate the teachers on how to deal with learners that are posing a challenge in terms of educating them as to better improve the teaching and learning environment.

On the other hand, those learners that pose a threat to teachers should be dealt with through counselling, suspension, parent involvement, detention; get them involved in extra activities such as cleaning the school toilets or school yards. Charity begins at home and parents should not just depend on teachers to discipline their children.

*Martha Tchikwambi is currently studying for a master’s degree in business administration majoring in public sector management.