Action Plan to End Corporal Punishment

End Corporal Punishment in Sri Lanka - Vision 2020

Corporal Punishment (CP) is an archaic and heinous form of punishment of children, which is considered a crime and is banned in 132 countries.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child defines corporal punishment as any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.

Research studies show associations between corporal punishment and a wide range of negative effects and adverse psychological outcomes on victims. No studies to date have found evidence of any benefits.

In Sri Lanka, corporal punishment often takes the form of hitting, slapping, pinching, pulling hair, or making students kneel down or stand up. In the short term, this creates physical harm, humiliation, and mental hurt. The long-term effects have been shown through credible research.

Sri Lanka ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992. Since then, there have been six Parliamentary Elections, nine Prime Ministers and four Executive Presidents. Despite many pledges and proposals, corporal punishment remains rampant in schools.

The National Human Rights Action Plan 2017-2022 and the National Plan of Action for Children in Sri Lanka 2016-2020 do not address corporal punishment. Relevant authorities have also failed to implement circulars and take appropriate action to end the practice.

Sri Lanka was issued a red warning at the UNCRC session in February 2018, where the committee expressed concern that high numbers of children are subjected to abuse and violence, including corporal punishment, in homes, alternative care settings, penal institutions and schools.

The UNCRC has laid out clear criteria for prohibition. All forms of corporal punishment, however light, must be explicitly prohibited in legislation and any legal provisions that allow “reasonable” punishment must be repealed.

Many people believe corporal punishment is already banned in Sri Lanka because the Constitution prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and because the Penal Code includes cruelty to children. However, the legislature still contains contradictions, including provisions that allow harm in good faith and schoolmaster discretion.

Further, the Children & Young Person’s Ordinance 1939 provides legal defences to parents, teachers and other persons having lawful control of a child to administer corporal punishment without being charged.

As a Pathfinder country for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and as part of Sustainable Development Goal 16.2, Sri Lanka must enact and implement laws that send a clear message that violent punishment of children is no longer acceptable.

Key Members

1. HE President
2. Minister of Education
3. Minister of Children’s Affairs
4. Minister of Law & Order
5. Minister of Justice

Phase 1

1. Ensure a total ban on Corporal Punishment is institutionalized and implemented.
2. Implement the National Child Protection Policy.
3. Regulate International Schools.
4. Circulate all relevant circulars to all schools and make Principals and teachers aware of same.
5. Establish Child Protection Officers in every school.
6. Make all parents aware of the above through specially designed material, distributed through schools to all school entrants in 2020.

Proposed Implementation

1. Ensure a total ban on Corporal Punishment is institutionalized and implemented.
   • Necessary legislative changes to be repealed with an explicit ban on corporal punishment.
   • Responsible members: HE & Minister of Justice.
2. Implement the National Child Protection Policy.
   • Explore the status of the policy and pursue tabling it in Parliament.
   • Transfer the management of the National Child Protection Authority direct to HE Secretariat.
   • Responsible members: HE & Minister of Children’s Affairs.
3. Regulate International Schools.
   • Necessary Cabinet approvals to be passed further to the Cabinet discussion of 9 May 2018.
   • Responsible members: HE & Minister of Education.
4. Circulate all relevant circulars to all schools and make Principals and teachers aware of same.
   • All relevant circulars must include principals of international schools.
   • Responsible members: HE & Minister of Education.
5. Establish Child Protection Officers in every school.
   • All Principals and two teachers from each school should undergo training on Child Protection/Safeguarding, including evidence-based guided alternatives to disciplinary procedures.
   • OICs, OICs of Children’s Units etc. should undergo training in Child Protection/Safeguarding.
   • Responsible members: HE & Minister of Education & Minister of Law & Order.
6. Information leaflet to all school entrants in 2020.
   • All school entrants of Government schools, private schools approved by the Ministry of Education and International schools regulated by the Ministry of Education should receive a trilingual information leaflet informing that corporal punishment is banned and explaining the process to follow in case of such incidence, introducing Child Protection Officers, and encouraging alternative discipline in all settings.
   • Responsible members: HE & Ministry of Education.

Enclosures

• A Study on Child Disciplinary Methods Practiced in Schools in Sri Lanka - May 2017.
• Committee on the Rights of the Child - Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Sri Lanka - February 2018.
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, No. 56 of 2007.
• Preventing Violence Against Children in Sri Lanka - Country Discussion Paper 2017.
• Working Towards Universal Prohibition of Corporal Punishment.
• Guidelines for Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools in India.
• Draft Policy on National Child Protection - 2017.
• Corporal Punishment of Children in Sri Lanka - August 2018.
• Press Briefing of Cabinet decision taken on 2018.05.09.
• Press Briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2013.06.20.
• Ministry of Education circular No 12/2016.