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The East African country of Zimbabwe has just ruled that the beating of children is constitutional and will now be punishable by law.

Though corporal punishment at home and in school has been banned by the High Court, it still needs to be approved by the constitutional court as well.

The pivotal decision comes as a result of parental outrage over evidence that their children were being beaten in school for minor academic offenses.

RELATEDFormer Child Brides Win Case in Court: Zimbabwe Bans Child Marriage

After finding vicious bruises inflicted on her daughter’s body by a school teacher, Linah Pfungwa teamed up with a children’s rights organization in order to take the corporal punishment law to court.

Justice David Mangota eventually ruled that parents and teachers would have to find other means of disciplining children that didn’t involve physical violence, according to the BBC.

The ruling is an especially exciting follow-up to Zimbabwe outlawing child marriage over one year ago.

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1 COMMENT

  1. My wife was a Kindergarten teacher for 33yrs in Texas. Though the laws were changed to disallow corporal punishment–even when it was called for–they weren’t changed because of damage to the children, but rather that the kids ‘got even’ with their teachers and staff for being the ‘enemy’ of their misdeeds. They then became more belligerent, and acted worse, since there was no more punishment for misdeeds. It’s certain that the kids lied to their parents about what happened, to make themselves look innocent. So, the laws are now that absolutely no punishment is administered, and the chaos just keeps getting worse. They become as spoiled at school as they are at home! Most often, the kids deserve much worse than they get–domestically, anyway.
    I saw it go from a pop on the bottom in the classroom, to take it out in the hall, to get a witness, to send to the principal or nurse, to get a note written and sent home (which had little effect, since the parents didn’t want their kids disciplined at all), to let them get away with everything. Real and good teachers know this is not the right way to raise up a child. FORCED APATHY is still the rule in schools, unfortunately. Sorry.

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