While most countries have done away with corporal punishment, in school and at home, Barbados has still not moved into the 21st century and outlawed this type of child abuse.

It’s still legal in Barbados for teachers to administer corporal punishment on a child. This form of chastisement is the only lingering embarrassment Barbadians either insist is necessary or have not been vocal sufficiently in the right areas to bring about a total mood for change.

Let’s be clear. A grown-up is still allowed, legally, to beat a small child with a stick, a leather strap or even a slipper to try to enforce a change of attitude or actions that the child ‘might’ have carried out. Proof in law is not required; just say so of a teacher, parent or guardian.

To provide a simple example, an eight-year-old daughter of a close friend, told us that she’s only been beaten twice at school. On both occasions she had made a mistake with her school work. She hadn’t bullied another child; she hadn’t hit anyone; she hadn’t been abusive to a teacher; she had just made a simple error and her thrashing was meant to teach her not to make the error again. It obviously didn’t work the first time, so would it work the second time?

So what provides the outstanding memories for this are eight-year-old at school so far? Her beatings. Even if she completes her schooling with no further corporal punishment what lessons has she learnt? She now knows that if someone makes a simple mistake it’s obviously correct – the teacher hit her – to strike them so that it hurts them in the hope that they would learn never to make another mistake in their life.

Whatever way you look at it, it’s child abuse. It’s potentially a 250 pound man repeatedly hitting a 40 pound small child. While you may think that it’s an exaggerated example, the reality is that this action could be taking place at almost any school on the island, today. Out of school, if the same action occurred the man would be looking at jail time. It’s also wrong to believe that only male teachers administer this type of punishment as women are just as quick to force children to toe the line in this manner.

At another school a teacher decided to give every child who was at least an hour late for school, a minimum of six of the best as they enter the school gates in full view of other pupils, teachers and the general public. We all know that these children needed some sort of chastisement, but to live in fear of the stick would probably keep them away from school completely, rather than turning up on time. When the headteacher found out, he moved the process behind closed doors. Incredibly, the headteacher and school governors backed the abuser. They had the opportunity to show humans that they have learned from the past, they missed a substantial opportunity. How this did not turn into a full-scale riot is only down to the apathy and acceptability of this practice by the parents and guardians involved.

One of our criteria when seeking a school for our seven-year-old, was a written guarantee that she would never, ever have a teacher lay a finger on her. It was also confirmed by the principle that it was considered way out of line for any pupil to intentionally hurt another pupil. Mutual appreciation of each other, child to child and teacher to child was paramount.

One school we visited contained a proud head teacher who told us that only she and her deputy would now beat the children. She consider this her move to bring this violence up to date. This form of human rights mistreatment doesn’t look like ending any time soon.

It’s no excuse to say that ‘I got beaten at school so therefore I can beat my child.’ What this will teach children is that bullying is acceptable and that physical abuse is perfectly acceptable as the first line of attack, let alone being the last resort. It teaches children that adults are prepared to hit out, in a temper, when they are unable to come to a satisfactory verbal conclusion with a child. If a teacher (who is trained to deal with children) or parents/guardians (who may not be trained) cannot reason with a young child through verbal interaction, then they’re probably not fit to teach in the first place.

There’s a lot of talk in Barbados that this form of child abuse should end. Local newspapers report that less than 30% of people still agree with corporal punishment in this manner. The talk needs to become reality so that we can teach our children that they don’t need to live in fear of being beaten, if they make mistakes they can learn from them without fear of a stick. There are many ways a child can be chastised efficiently without physical abuse and in a manner that won’t be their one major memory from school days.