Sir Frank Peters

TODAY (Tuesday, April 30) is International End Corporal Punishment Day, which is a day set aside to grip every country by its green-edged borders that has not already banned the horrific practice, give it a good ‘wake-up’ shake into reality, and awaken it to the colossal harm it’s doing to its children.

Sometimes it takes more than one vigorous shake for governments in semi-permanent hibernation, to wake up to the cruel reality and hypocrisy of their claim that the children are its most precious assets and the future of the nation, but giving them no protection to enhance their blossom.

Every Year–3 pupil worldwide, especially those suffering severe corporal punishment abuse, must have scratched his or her head and pondered the thought: “If we are the nation’s most precious assets – the jewel in the crown – why are we being treated as if we’re worthless, a mere ‘whipping boy’, merely to serve the whims of ignorant, uneducated, sadistic-minded people?”

Okay, they may not use the word ‘sadistic’, that may be years away before its added to their vocabulary, but it would puzzle them why adults could be so heartless, cruel, and inflict such horrific pain (and leave bruises) over not remembering trivial information.

The same perpetrators of the child abuse are themselves most likely guilty numerous times of walking from one room into another and forgetting why they did or where they put their keys, but nobody beats them.

It’s a very strange world. When an adult hits an adult he or she can be hauled before the courts charged with assault, fined, maybe even jailed. When an adult hits a child, however, that’s seemingly okay and it’s what’s best for the child. They label that discipline.

But it’s NOT okay, it’s NOT what’s best for the child, and it’s NOT discipline. World acclaimed writing genius Rabindranath Tagore was spot on when he said: “To discipline means to teach, not to punish.” How could anyone get that wrong? What he said makes total sense.

They say, you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. In 2011, for example, the High Court Divisional bench, comprising of Justice Md. Imman and Ali and Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif, attempted to rid Bangladesh of the horrific scourge declaring it to be: "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child's fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom", but like cockroaches in bathrooms, it’s still about.

Just this month alone a 9-year-old student at Darul Quran Hafijiya Madrasa in Mirpur missed class one day because he was ill with fever. When he returned to school the following day, Saddam Hossain, his senseless sadistic madrasa teacher, forced him to kneel down and proceeded to beat the Allah-loving child with a cane all over his fragile body. Two of the strikes directly hit his testicles, from which he may never fully recover.

If Bangladesh is to become a fully integrated civilized nation and eventually achieve Sonar Bangla status as our exalted Father of the Nation Bangabandhu wished, it must eradicate curable cancers like corporal punishment in its preparation.

There are 195 countries in the world. Only 65 have full prohibition of corporal punishment 27 more, however, have committed to reforming their laws to achieve a complete legal ban. Sadly, Bangladesh is not listed in either category.

Why any country would doggedly hold a bulldog grip on an illness that causes so much damage to the children and the nation, is beyond my comprehension.

Steve Miller of Save the Children International, said: “Children around the world have a right to legal protection from corporal punishment, in the family home and all other settings of their lives. This human right is recognised under international treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, yet many countries fail to prohibit corporal punishment. All countries must respect children’s rights and ban all forms of corporal punishment.”

No doubt Bangladesh will one day become Sonar Bangla. One of the greatest advances it could make and speed the process now would be to become number 66 on the list of nations that prohibits corporal punishment in all settings.

The writer is a former newspaper and magazine publisher and editor, an award-winning writer, humanitarian, human rights activist, Honorary Member of the Bangladesh Freedom Fighters, and a foreign friend of Bangladesh