Parliament to debate Penal Code Amendment Bill banning all forms of school punishment today

Parliament is scheduled to debate the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill today, which seeks to ban both physical and nonphysical punishment of children in schools and other institutions.

- By YOHAN PERERA AND AJITH SIRIWARDANA

If passed, the legislation will prohibit corporal punishment as well as acts of public humiliation, thereby offering broader protection to children. The Bill explicitly criminalizes actions such as inflicting physical harm on a child for refusing to study, punishing a child for bullying another student, or humiliating a child in front of a school assembly for minor infractions such as theft. It also bars school prefects from physically punishing fellow st