MoU signed for rooting out corporal punishment

PESHAWAR: Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Elementary and Secondary Education Department to educate teachers on alternatives to corporal punishment and formulating a mechanism whereby the problems of students and teachers can be solved at school level, says a press release issued on Wednesday.

Executive Director SPARC Arshad Mehmood while appreciating government's interest in children's issues said that the project would help improve quality of education in the country, adding that the Memorandum of Understanding  would ensure and extend the mutual cooperation between SPARC and the education department.

In the first phase of the project, a baseline survey would be conducted in five districts including Nowshera, Peshawar, Swabi, Charsadda, and Mardan, which would be extended to other parts of the province, he informed. 

Arshad said that the project is aimed at capacity building of teachers and mentors by introducing alternatives to corporal punishment through trainings and follow-ups, along with exploring and establishing a mechanism to gradually eliminate corporal punishment from schools.

He further informed that during the project mass awareness campaigns would also be run through radio and television apart from displaying banners at public places to sensitise the public regarding the issue.

Imtiaz Ahmad, National Manager Violence against Children, said that the MoU would help in eliminating corporal punishment from schools in the selected districts of Frontier by providing trainings to teachers and placing an effective problem solving mechanism at school level.

According to a UN study on violence against children conducted in 2004, the dropout rate in the country is 50% higher than other countries of the world and corporal punishment is one of the major causes which may have adverse psychological impacts upon children. - APP