Sir Frank Peters :
From March 21 it will be illegal to physically punish children in Wales. Those who do could be charged with common assault and wind up with a criminal record that may also prevent them from entering countries like America.
The ‘smacking ban’ – brought about by the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 – will mean that children in Wales have the same protection from assault as adults.
In many countries (including Bangladesh) it is against the law to strike an adult, but legal to hit a child! – How preposterous is that when you consider children are the most vulnerable members of society and if we listen to politicians worldwide we are told children are the future of the nation?
It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever in the eyes of God or man that the future of the nation should be beaten and mistreated as slaves once were. In the latest clampdown on corporal punishment, police in Wales are asking anyone who sees a child being smacked to use the 999 emergency phone lines to call the police immediately.
England is also reviewing its position on corporal punishment towards children and is expected to toughen its regulations also this year.
Any nation wise enough to realize that children are its future; would be careless or stupid not to protect their most valued asset.
Corporal punishment to children in Scotland was banned in 2019 and welcomed by the majority of its inhabitants. Only a few relatively minor law-breaking incidents were reported and dealt with in the courts.
Next-door neighbour to England, Scotland and Wales is Ireland where corporal punishment is banned in all settings. In 1982, the announcement that the Ministry of Education had banned corporal punishment in schools was met with a thunderous roar of applause from the pupils across the nation.
Instant dismissal
The penalty imposed for disobeying that law was instant dismissal, which ended not just their existing teaching job, but also their teaching career and the possibility of a criminal record as an added bonus.
Now corporal punishment is unlawful in all settings, including in the home. At one stage corporal punishment was banned in all settings except in the home, where “reasonable chastisement” was permitted. Momentarily consider the ridiculousness of that. One can only wonder what crazed mind came up with the idea.
Put all the mathematicians and scientific minded people in the world in a single line and, individually or collectively, they could not answer ‘how long is a piece of string?’ Similarly, it’s impossible to determine what constitutes ‘reasonable chastisement’ – preposterous!
There’s only one-way to resolve the disgusting damning issues of corporal punishment and that’s to eradicate it entirely. NO corporal punishment… no ifs, no buts or maybes. Why would regular good people, especially those who are in partnership with God, perform the despicable sordid actions in God’s name and want to embrace a man-made poison that exists only to cause injury, pain, and damage or even kill innocent children?
One can only wonder why some alleged ‘teachers’ in Bangladeshi village schools (especially) ignores the science… ignore the truth and think they know better. Or do they get innate pleasure from hurting vulnerable children and damn the consequences?
In January 13, 2011, Justices Md. Imman Ali and Md. Sheikh Hasan Arif outlawed the inhuman, ineffective, ignorant practice of corporal punishment in schools and madrassas throughout Bangladesh. In their summary they declared it to be “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child’s fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom”.
That was over a decade ago. How long will this madness and inhumanity to children continue?
For Bangladesh to advance and make Bangabandhu’s imaginative beautiful dream of Sonar Bangla come to life it is essential that this issue is addressed and given the highest priority. Unquestionably, children are the foundation and future of all nations. Attempting to build Sonar Bangla on a foundation that’s less than solid, is begging for trouble and absolute failure.
This evil persecution of children has never made any sense and must stop. Wales has pricked the conscience of the world by brushing away the cobwebs of indifference and once again opened the topic for meaningful discussion and action and not just insincere pretty jingles lip service. It’s time to wake up and construct Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla on a solid foundation.
(Sir Frank Peters is a former newspaper and magazine publisher and editor, a royal goodwill ambassador, humanitarian, and a respected foreign friend of Bangladesh).
