Choosing his words carefully, Hall told the Rotary Club of  Mandeville on Tuesday night that 18 years as an educator had taught him that  corporal punishment was a useful disciplinary tool.

HALL… the child who  receives the punishment bears no ill will for the teacher

(L-R) HOLNESS… promised  while he was education minister that his government would seek to pass  legislation rendering corporal punishment illegal in schools. THWAITES… has  been less assertive on corporal punishment

“I am not indicating that all children should be flogged and I am  also not saying that flogging must be the solution to all the problems we have.  I am merely indicating that flogging or corporal punishment is for me a great  deterrent to unwanted behaviour,” he said.

Hall told the Jamaica Observer following his speech at the Golf  View Hotel that in his view “no child over 15” should be flogged and the  punishment should not be carried out by the class teacher or anyone “emotionally  involved in the situation”.  Also, he said it should not be carried out  immediately but only after a “process” to determine the appropriate measure and  also to explain to the student the reasons for the punishment.

In a question-and-answer session at the tail end of his  presentation, Hall — who is principal of Spanish Town High in St Catherine — confirmed that he was voicing his personal views on corporal punishment.

He also made it clear that the Ministry of Education has a clear  policy against flogging although the law still allows it in schools. He said the  JTA has instructed its members to refrain from flogging children in order to  avoid the possibility of legal action against them.

“Corporal punishment is still on our books in that (although) the  child care and protection act outlawed corporal punishment in children’s homes  and places of safety, it is still legal in schools,” said Hall.

He noted, however, that “there is illegality and then there is  policy. The ministry’s policy is to ban corporal punishment, so the association  (JTA) has instructed its members not to perform corporal punishment because  whenever it is done we recognise that whoever is the administrator …could find  him or herself on his own, without… legal backing”.

While the Ministry of Education has turned its face against  corporal punishment and the JTA has instructed teachers to desist from flogging,  anecdotal evidence reaching the Observer suggests the practice remains in some  schools.

Late last year the Kensington Primary School in St Catherine was  shrouded in controversy following a complaint by a parent that her nine-year-old  had suffered corporal punishment.

Down the years there have also been isolated reports of children  suffering serious injury, as a result of accidents during flogging.

Three years ago, a child lost the use of his eye after the buckle  of a belt being wielded by a teacher accidentally hit him. That case is before  the courts.

Following the latter incident, then education minister in the  Jamaica Labour Party Administration of the day, Andrew Holness, pledged that his  Government would seek to pass legislation rendering corporal punishment illegal  in schools. Holness and others noted that corporal punishment is in breach of  the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Jamaica is  signatory.

Current Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, who took over as  education minister following the People’s National Party’s election victory in  December 2011, has been less assertive on the issue.

In response to the case at Kensington Primary last year, Thwaites  said: “A clear policy has been given to schools that corporal punishment is not  allowed with the normal running of the school and this is consistent with the  laws and regulations.”

But, he was also quoted as saying: “I do accept that there will be  very extreme cases of obstreperous conduct where a principal, having regard to  age, circumstances and gender; may find it necessary to apply moderate corporal  punishment. However, at no time should corporal punishment be used in order to  enforce homework to be done or even work in a circumstance where a child has not  done well in a test or in some exercise.”

In seeking to explain his own views on the matter, Hall told  Rotarians in Mandeville Tuesday that the formal removal of corporal punishment  had left a “vacuum” in the system of administering discipline and had fuelled  the practice of “reprisals” in schools. He appeared to suggest that children  were socialised to accept flogging as legitimate when it is administered by  “institutionalised authority” in a manner considered justified.

“The child who receives the punishment (flogging) bears no ill  will for the teacher because in that child’s socialised opinion the teacher was  merely carrying out his or her duty. A good teacher would have explained to the  child prior to the flogging what it is you are going to be flogged for,” said  Hall.

“What we have now is a removal of that method of punishment from  our classroom. When child ‘A’ is slapped by Child ‘B’, he complains to the  teacher.

The teacher then uses counselling or speaks to the child or some  other form of penal action. But the child who was inflicted does not view that  as a means of exacting justice.

“It therefore means that child B who was afflicted will seek to  inflict his own form of justice at a time when it is convenient. It is this  situation of reprisal that is causing most of the student-on-student violence we  have in our institutions.” said Hall.

Claiming he had first-hand experience of improved student  behaviour because of the threat of corporal punishment, Hall said, “I have come  to the recognition that the promise or threat of corporal punishment is a  greater deterrent than the corporal punishment itself.”

However, he said, he also recognised that “if you are forced to  use corporal punishment regularly then you would also have misused it (and it  would) not have the effect that it ought to have when used”.

He suggested that the decision by the powers that be to ban  corporal punishment in schools reflected a tendency to act without properly  contemplating issues and the consequences of actions.

Citing an example of what he believed to be inadequate thought,  Hall referred to a recommendation that police be called when a child is found  with an offensive weapon.

“When corporal punishment was removed we were told that if a child  comes to school with a knife or a weapon we should call the police,”              said Hall.

But according to him, “I will not report my 14-year-old to any  police unless the situation becomes significantly troubling for that child or  for other children”.

He asked, “How could I look in the eyes of a 17-year-old, who  would have passed five or six CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate)  subjects and know that I prevented his future advancement because when he was 14  I gave him a police record?”

“It is something teachers don’t or won’t do, and in that context  the suggestion (from the Ministry of Education) was not feasible. We must now as  educators look at education in terms of the development of the children, and  anything that is going to enhance the student is what we must incorporate,”            he said.

Hall said the authorities should refrain from adopting policies  “without giving it thought in our social and historical contexts…”

The JTA head said that as a teacher he was committed to protecting  children and to always giving them a chance to correct mistakes.

“I am telling you that it is my fervent belief that I can reach  each child, I was fortunate to have teachers who stood up for me and who guided  me along the path, I was not always a very well behaved child,” he said.

“It is out of that reality I am convinced that if I can’t reach  child ‘A’ then I must find someone on my staff to reach this child, and if I  can’t find someone on my staff then I must find some friend who will be able to  reach this child. I believe that all our children require a second chance and a  third and a fourth. Many of us who now make policies, if those policies were in  place while we grew up, we would have been truants and prisoners,” he  said.