In the past week, you’ve heard a lot of opinions about corporal
punishment all over the media. But what is it really? To most of us, it just
means lashing but according to the Teachers Union, that’s not entirely
true – or at least it’s not entirely clear. They say that serving
a jug can also be classed as corporal punishment – and that is a whole
other story. Veteran teacher and former BNTU president John Pinelo was on the
frontline at Friday’s rally in Belmopan and he discussed it with us.
Jules Vasquez,
“The criticism is that it is over lash pickney unu come out yah. Where
is the moral authority in that?”
John Pinelo, Former BNTU President
“Actually one of the things I think the government is not watching
or the Ministry is that removing the rule, as it is right now they have signed
an agreement or treaty with I think it is concerning the rights of the child.
That also includes the parents so for example right now in Belize if a child
feels abused by a parent they can call the police and get you arrested and spend
a couple hours in jail. Now that is in place right now.
Now to change the education rules to remove the corporal punishment section
will mean removing something very important because we are not advocating abusing
kids but a rule is in there, if any child is really to do something extreme
then the principal at least has the authority to do that under supervision,
well recorded and logged; no abuse, only the principal. Yes I will agree that
there have been instances where there have been junior teachers who may have
applied the corporal punishment illegally. In this case there is a recourse,
if any teacher does that the parent can take them to court and win the case
and get them charged. So that is in place, we don’t need any another rule.”
Pinelo is now teaching secondary school.
In a significant related development, The Ministry of Education has
announced the appointment of a Task Force for Identifying Alternatives to corporal
punishment. The 10 person task force is tasked to identify, recommend and devise
a plan for the introduction of alternatives to corporal punishment. Membership
comes from a cross section of groups including parents, the Ministry of Education,
General Managers, Principals, the Belize National Teachers’ Union, the
National Committee for Families and Children, and the National Organization
for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. An official release does not
specify any timeline for completion of the report – but the Minister has
said he wants new measures in place in time for the new school year in September.
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