Shameful resistance to protecting our children

IT is deeply troubling that Sri Lanka’s long-overdue effort to criminalise corporal punishment of children has met such fierce resistance from sections of teachers and, most disappointingly, the clergy. Equally shameful is the Government’s apparent willingness to bow to this regressive pressure. At a time when countries across the world have evolved to recognise corporal punishment as a form of child abuse, Sri Lanka seems poised to take a step backward, clinging to outdated notions of discipline cloaked in the language of “tradition” and “culture.”

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For generations, corporal punishment has been justified as a necessary tool to instil respect and obedience in children. But research, experience, and plain moral reasoning now show the opposite to be true. Striking, humiliating, or inflicting pain ona child does not produce respect, it breeds fear, resentment, and a lifelong internalisation of violence as a normal means of asserting power. Children who are hit to “learn a lesson” learn only that violence works. When they grow up, they repeat this lesson in their adult relationships, in the workplace, and in society at large.