Teachers Without Borders

[9 August 2010] - The Bangladeshi government has banned corporal punishment in all educational institutions across the country. The directive came weeks after the High Court had ordered the government to take steps to stop corporal punishment in primary and secondary schools. The government's order covers all schools, including madrassas. Beatings are widespread in Bangladeshi schools, even though human rights groups have been campaigning against them for years. In its latest directive, the education ministry banned what it described as inhuman and merciless punishment given to students in schools. Corporal punishment damaged the development of students, it said.

Beatings and sexual harassment are rife in state-run schools in the Philippines, with many pupils also routinely bullied, according to a government-led study published this week.

Schools tolerate teachers spanking, beating, pinching, slapping, cursing and shouting at children to impose discipline, and there are no standard mechanisms for addressing complaints, the Council for the Welfare of Children said. "Children experience violence both from their peers in school and from school personnel," the council, an agency of the social welfare ministry, said in a summary of its findings.

four in 10 children suffered some kind of violence in class in their first three years in school.

While life for many women in the country remains difficult, today Herat’s Gowarshad High School – named for the powerful Timurid queen who founded the city – is full of confident young girls who are well aware of their rights.

“If a woman is educated, she can effectively participate in society and transfer her knowledge to her children,” said Fariba, the school’s volleyball captain. “A society must not be led by men only.”

the Bangladeshi non-governmental organization BRAC runs a community-based school where girls who have not been able to enter the formal education system can get a basic education. There girls are tutored for two years, at which point they are prepared to join the formal school system at the fourth-grade level.

One of the things that came up during the meeting is that it is hard to find qualified tutors to teach ICT in primary schools.