Why is Corporal Punishment Still Use in Africa What are the Alternatives - Essay Example

It further revealed that more than 98 percent of the children surveyed reported experiencing corporal punishment. More than a third of these children said they experienced it at least once a week; 20 percent said they had been burnt as a form of punishment; and more than 60 percent of the children said they experienced corporal punishment at school regularly. One out of every seven children said they experienced it every day (D. Naker and D. Sekitoleko 2009). The discussion in this paper provides a criticism of corporal punishment of children within families and schools in the region of Africa.

The paper intends to establish that corporal punishment to children is a significant violation of their human rights but it has been embedded in social, cultural and religious aspect of life in Africa. The paper will further explore the reasons why it is common in Africa despite the fact that it extremely damages children’s development, make them sensitive and can harm them in many ways. The paper intends to provide the potential consequences of corporal punishment on children, and suggests how corporal/physical punishment might be eliminated in Africa.

In the end the paper will provide the comprehensive detail about the possible alternatives of corporal punishment along with the critical analysis of these alternatives. The critical analysis will provide the discussion that how the alternatives can be more successful as a form of punishment with less damaging effects on children’s body and mind. Why is Corporal Punishment Still Used in Africa? What are the Alternatives? I. Introduction “Physical punishment of people, especially by hitting or beating them” Oxford dictionary “Physical punishment as distinguished from pecuniary punishment or a fine; any kind of punishment inflicted on the body.”