punishment in Jamaican schools

by Rachel
(land o lakes, florida)

QUESTION:

In Jamaican schools today can children still be hit by their teachers without the teacher facing major retribution?

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ANSWER: by Wellesley, September 28 2010

Hi Rachel,

This one is a bit grey.

It seems that the Education Act does not prohibit such actions, at least not yet, but the ministry of education have made it clear that the government does not condone such behaviour.

Listen to this:

"Jamaica's Education Act is silent on the matter of corporal punishment in schools, officials say, but the Education Ministry has set guidelines on how the physical disciplining of students can be done. For instance, children 12 and over should not be caned.

However, the Child Care and Protection Act (2004) prohibits corporal punishment in institutions and the Early Childhood Act (2005) outlaws its use in early childhood institutions." (Gleaner Article August 18, 2006)

That said, a 2006 Jamaica Gleaner - Bill Johnson Poll showed however that the majority of Jamaican support caning in schools!

They found that "most Jamaicans believe that corporal punishment, although illegal in some cases and definitely frowned on by the authorities, should be allowed in schools, to punish children deemed to have behaved badly".

But, in a 2009 Jamaica Gleaner article, the education minister, Andrew Holness, vowed to enact legislation that would prevent same by this soon.

We'll see how that goes.

Stay in touch.

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Reference:


http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060818/lead/lead4.html
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20091211/lead/lead1.html