Corporal Punishment in Schools in the Jaffna District of Sri Lanka – A students’ view

Abstract

AbstractPurpose:Corporal-punishment has been prevailing in Sri- Lanka despite the strict law against it. Objectives of this study was to find the prevalence of corporal punishment in schools and the knowledge, perceptions and actions in the children.Methods:A community based cross sectional descriptive study done among school students from Jaffna district using a pretested questionnaire containing 40 questions. Multistage stratified proportionate cluster sampling was used to recruit the students. Scoring systems were used to determine the knowledge and perception of Corporal-punishment. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.Results:A total of 1130 students were recruited with mean age of 17.58±0.5y. A total of 687(60.7%) said they received some form of corporal punishment at least once during the school term. Physical punishment (64.5%) was common followed by psychological (27.1%). Teachers (54.8%) were the main group involved in corporal-punishment. Mean score for the knowledge was 11.11 and a good knowledge score was seen in 37.3% of the students. Participants with good knowledge favored law against it (p value<0.05), take legal action (P value<0.05) and supported complete prohibition of it (P value<0.05). Nearly 2% (n=22) had good perception and 40.8% (n=461) had a more positive perception. Majority (86.3%) preferred an alternative way of discipline and felt it was detrimental to the future (89.5%).Conclusion:Corporal-punishment was experienced by majority of the students in school and the students were aware that it was illegal and those with good knowledge were willing to take legal action.