Licence for indiscipline? Perils of Sri Lanka’s new child rights agenda

The ban immediately undermines the authority of teachers and parents, replacing traditional respect with what is perceived as a permissive legal framework

- By Pradeepa Kekulawala

THE amendments to Sri Lanka's Children and Young Persons Ordinance (CYPO) and the push for a new comprehensive “Compact Act” are being hailed as long-overdue reforms, aligning the nation with international child rights conventions.

Yet, beneath the veneer of progress lies a profound anxiety: will these rights-centric laws, particularly the outright ban on corporal punishment and the shift toward rehabilitation, inadvertently dismantle the traditional mechanisms of discipline that underpin Sri Lankan society?

A growing chorus of critics—from concerned parents and overburdened teachers to social conservatives—argues that these reforms are being enacted without adequate preparation, threatening to unleash a wave of juvenile indiscipline that the State is ill-equipped to manage.

The discipline deficit: When the rod is spared

The most immediate and controversial change is the explicit repeal of the section of the CYPO that permitted the use of corporal punishment by parents and teachers. For generations in Sri Lanka, as in many South Asian nations, the principle of “spare the rod, spoil the child” has been central to moral and academic instruction. Discipline, enforced through firm action, was seen not as abuse, but as a form of moral care (“metta” in Buddhist thought).

The negative ramification, according to sceptics, is the creation of a “license for indiscipline.”

Erosion of authority: The ban immediately undermines the authority of teachers and parents, replacing traditional respect with what is perceived as a permissive legal framework. Teachers already report feeling powerless against defiant students, with the law stripping away their only effective sanction in large, under-resourced classrooms.