Children's views on physical and humiliating punishment

The following description of research into the experiences of corporal punishment by children in Zambia is taken from the International Save the Children Alliance's global submission to the UN Study on Violence, Ending Physical and Humiliating Punishment of Children - Making it Happen, available at: http://www.rb.se/eng/Programme/Exploitationandabuse/Corporalpunishment/1415+Publications.htm

What was done
In 2005, a quantitative and qualitative survey with Zambian boys and girls aged 6 - 18 years explored children's experiences, views and feelings in relation to corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment in the home and at school. The survey was conducted by the consultancy Clacherty and Associates from South Africa in close cooperation with Zambia Civic Education Association. The quantitative component involved 2,321 children and the sample was drawn across four socio economic (income bands), distributed across all nine of Zambia's provinces....

Children participating in the survey were located through schools. The selection of schools was done by using the existing knowledge of their socio-economic context. These selections were corroborated by observations of local conditions by the researchers. This variety of sampling strategies allowed a close correspondence between schools and the relevant income bands. The children were then drawn from schools which corresponded to the relevant income brands.

Children participating in the quantitative component of the survey were between 6 and 18 years of age. The children were then divided into groups based on their ages, i.e. 6 - 8 years, 9 - 12 years and 13 - 18 years. The children were drawn from the relevant grades in the schools selected for the survey. The groups also maintained a gender balance throughout. Within these constraints the selection of individual children were done randomly.

The children selected in the survey were asked if they had been hit with a hand and/or beaten by an object and/or if they had been subjected to humiliating and degrading punishment within the last two weeks either at home or in school. These answers to the questions were obtained in clear yes/no form. The children also had to indicate whether they accepted or not accepted the above-mentioned treatment. In addition the children also state their preference of three alternative forms of punishment. These were hitting, talking, and other (such as to stay in once room).

The qualitative component involved 384 children who were drawn across four socio-economic levels and distributed across four Zambian provinces, i.e. Lusaka, Luapulua, Southern Province and Copperbelt. Those included were selected on the basis of representing relatively densely populated, as well as geographically separate, areas in the country as a whole. As with the quantitative component, the provinces were not considered as independent variables, neither were the rural and urban areas which also were recorded. As with the quantitative component of the survey, the children participating were between 6 and 18 years of age. The children were divided into focus groups based on the set out age groups; i.e. 6 - 8 years, 9 - 12 years and 13 - 18 years. This was done as children of different ages have different experiences of both the forms and severity of punishment, their views of its legitimacy, their responses to it, and their suggested alternatives could vary considerably between younger and older children. The focus groups maintained a gender balance throughout.

In the qualitative data gathering process focus group activities and discussions appropriate to the three age groups and in the home language of the participants were run for approximately 60 minutes in each case. All discussion was tape recorded, translated into English where necessary, and transcribed. These transcriptions, together with children's drawings and researcher session notes and observations, constituted the data for qualitative analysis.

Child punishment was explored as experienced in the context of the home, and then separately, as it was experienced in the context of school. In both contexts, typical forms of corporal punishment and humiliating or degrading punishment that the children had experienced were explored. For both forms of punishment children were asked:

• Why did you get punished?
• Do you think it was acceptable (ok) to punish you for this?
• How did you feel at the time?
• Did it make you do something?
• Do you think they could have punished you in a different way?
• If yes, what different way of punishing would have been better?

Note that children were asked to talk about the 'last time' they were punished at home or school. So most incidents reported on here happened in the recent past. Frequency of punishment was not explored. Children's knowledge of the legality of corporal punishment in school was not explored.

.... All activities and discussions were held in the children's home language and were adapted in terms of pace, language level, and the re-phrasing of questions and examples according to the relevant age group. Opening and closing activities were designed to set children at ease, to clarify purposes, and to encourage safe, affirming and non-threatening participation. In particular, and in terms of ethical principles, matters of choice (i.e. the choice to respond or not) and of confidentiality were explicitly clarified at the opening of each focus group. In addition the following strategies were also applied. At no point were children asked to identify who punished them. Through the process of drawing followed by discussion, speaking in the third person about incidents of punishment was actively encouraged to create emotional distance and increase confidentiality. At no point were the responses of children who showed signs of distress forced or probed. Children were informed at the beginning of the research interaction that in cases of sexual abuse the researcher would need to tell someone, with the child's involvement [The law requires educators and researchers to report sexual abuse that is disclosed.].... Other than in cases of sexual abuse, children were assured that researchers would keep everything they said confidential....

The research was funded by Save the Children Sweden.

What was found
It is clear from the study that many boys and girls of all ages in Zambia experience high levels of corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment in the home and at school. Despite its prohibition in schools, corporal punishment, in many cases in the form of severe beatings with an object, is reported at school by more children than at home. Twenty-four percent of children reported being subjected to corporal punishment in the home during a period of two weeks. Children reported being beaten with hands, sticks and belts.

"I was caned on the buttocks with a thick wooden whip because I stole meat from the pot." Boy, Copperbelt

"I was beaten because I had refused to do house chores. I was beaten with a stick." Girl, Lusaka Province

Boys aged 6 - 8 years described being beaten for behaviour expected from young children, such as being high spirited and less co-ordinated. Older boys most often receive corporal punishment for not staying at home when told to do so, for staying out late, fighting, or breaking something like a window when playing. Girls in the age group 6 - 12 years seem to receive corporal punishment for breaking household goods or for not doing work at home. Children are also beaten for what is seen as a waste of resources.

"I was beaten on my thighs with a cooking stick. I never swept the floor." Girl, Copperbelt

"My guardian was checking my books and found one was light in weight so he asked me why the book was light and I told him that I get papers in the book for tests at school; but my guardian beat me, saying I deliberately rip papers from books because I like drawing. And I wasn't given any food." Boy, Lusaka Province

Thirty-two percent of children reported being hit with a hand and 38% reported being beaten with an object at school during the two-week period. In schools, children are most often hit with the hand, a stick or a hosepipe.

"I never wrote my homework. I got whipped on my bum with a hosepipe." Boy, Lusaka Province

"My teacher hit me on my back with her hands because somebody lied that I had insulted someone." Girl, Lusaka Province

In addition to more traditional forms of corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment, a trend was emerging of punishments that often involved very heavy labour such as digging holes, levelling land, carrying rocks and slashing grass. Another form of punishment was designed to cause discomfort, pain and humiliation, for example frog-jumping, kneeling or holding chairs or desks above the head for lengthy periods of time.

"I arrived late and was told to dig a hole the size of my height." Boy, Southern Province

"I was told to lift the desk on top of my head for one hour, because I sneaked out of the class to go buy a pen." Boy, Copperbelt

Forty-three percent of children reported being exposed to humiliating punishment at home, while 37% experienced this form of punishment at school. Examples of humiliating punishment related to verbal abuse, being singled out, and feeling embarrassed when others laugh because of punishment being received.

"I was made to dig in the rain for not doing what the superior had instructed me as head boy to do. Other people started laughing, which made me feel ashamed as head boy." Boy, Copperbelt

Children from low-income environments experience corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment to a greater extent than children from high-income environments. It is important to underline that, although this study has looked at children from different income groups in Zambia, there are factors other than income that influence the use of corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment of children, such as relative levels of stress and possibly associated relationship problems.

Corporal punishment is also used more frequently on younger children (6 - 12 years) than on older children (13 - 18 years). Older children experience humiliating and degrading punishment to a greater extent than younger children. Children in the Copperbelt, and to some extent in the Lusaka Province, seem to experience higher levels of corporal punishment than children from other provinces. A number of children from the Copperbelt came from broken homes and lived with guardians or grandparents. This might be one explanation for the higher level of corporal punishment in this province. The study also found that it is mostly mothers who administer corporal punishment at home. The main reason for this is most likely that mothers have greater daily responsibility for children. At school, corporal punishment is most often administered by teachers. In boarding schools, it seems that prefects administer corporal and other forms of punishment because of their higher authority.

Although the study found no statistically significant difference between boys and girls, there was a small but consistent trend for boys to be subjected to corporal punishment more often than girls. The qualitative data show that more older boys than girls appear to be given punishments in the form of heavy labour. Older girls appear to experience humiliating and degrading punishment in the form of verbal abuse to a larger extent than boys, as parents attempt to control the perceived sexual activities of teenage girls and exposure to HIV/AIDS.

"My guardian shouted at me and told me that I was going to die like my mother, because I had come home later from school. It was raining and so I couldn't make it in time. My mother died of AIDS." Girl, Lusaka Province

If children themselves could choose, they would prefer to be disciplined in a non-violent manner. Approximately 70% of the children found corporal punishment in the home and at school unacceptable. Their sentiment was the same for humiliating punishment, which approximately 79% found unacceptable. The overwhelming majority of children would like parents and teachers to talk to them and explain what they did wrong instead of using corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment. According to the study, 70% of the children would like adults to talk to them, while 19% of the children would prefer non-violent disciplinary measures in the form of staying in one's room, writing punishment or detention. This indicates that the majority of children (89%) wish to be treated with respect, to have adults listen to them, and to be given a better understanding of what they have done wrong.

"Talking to me kindly and hear the other side of a matter." Boy, Copperbelt

"The teacher was beating me because I was playing although break was over. She should have told me not to do it again." Girl, Southern Province

Children reported a range of feelings and behavioural responses to corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment. The survey found that sadness, regret and anger are the most common feelings reported by children in response to corporal punishment and other forms of humiliating and degrading punishment. Anger is a more common reaction in school when the punishment is perceived as unfair. Other reactions reported are 'doing nothing', guilt, crying, loneliness, depression, unhappiness and physical pain.

"I was made to lift my hands up for some time as a punishment for not getting permission to go out. I felt my hands were aching. I felt my heart pumping fast and felt like the concrete block would kill me." Girl, Lusaka Province

"I felt bad. I wished he wasn't my dad. I felt like killing myself or running away." Girl, Lusaka Province

It is also worrying to note that a number of children reported aggressive feelings as a reaction to their punishment.

"I felt like grabbing the sweep from her and beating her back." Boy, Southern Province

Many children also indicated that their punishment for doing something wrong should take place after school hours, so that they do not miss classes. The practice by teachers of disciplining children by making them do different tasks out outside the classroom during lessons also violates children's right to education.

"I was punished for coming late to school. I cleaned the toilets and cultivated in the garden; that is the punishment I was given. Should have punished me after class." Girl, Lusaka Province

Zambian Children's Experiences of Corporal Punishment (Pretoria: Save the Children Sweden), by G. Clacherty, D. Donald and A. Clacherty (2005) is available here as a Word document.
Save the Children's report Ending corporal punishment of children in Zambia is available here as a PDF.

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