Is Corporal Punishment Safe

The opposition team has earlier raised the point of the safety of corporal punishment in schools.

But this point they have raised is completely invalid as corporal punishment , caning, is done in a very safe and non-emotionally scarring way. After a student commits an offence, they will have a talk to a teacher or discipline master. And if the student is defiant and would not admit his mistake and repent, the parents are called up. The parents are consulted on the student’s behavior and asked if there was anything that the school can to do for the child. If the parents are unable to think of a way to educate the student, then the school considers corporal punishment, or caning in this case. If the school decides caning is required to discipline the child, the boy will be arrange to go on stage to receive it. The caning is a solemn ceremony, so that no one laughs at the student being canned. After the canning ,the school arranges consultations for the child with the school’s counselor to ensure that the student is emotionally stable after the canning. This prevents any emotional damage or harm from occurring to the child. All these measures are to protect the child’s emotional state and therefore makes the opposition’s argument that corporal punishment is emotionally scarring completely invalid. And the only reason why they would raise such a point is because they have not done their research on how corporal punishment or caning is done in Singapore.

Now , to cover the opposition’s argument that corporal punishment might harm the child physically. Caning in Singapore is done by the principal, vice-principal or a trained teacher. So the student’s parents can be assured that their child would only be canned to a certain limit. Also, canning is done with a light cane on the palms or buttocks over clothing and nowhere else. This ensures that there is no wound on the site of caning so that caning only induces pain for a short period of time as punishment for