In a random survey conducted by Andhra Pradesh Bala Sangham, an NGO, students of about 12 schools stated on camera that they had been subjected to corporal punishment, despite a Supreme Court judgment in January 2011 that corporal punishment in schools was unconstitutional.
(Reported in Deccan Chronicle, 7 Feb 2011)
A 2009 report by UNICEF documented a high prevalence of corporal punishment of children at home and school. The study involved nearly 4000 households, through interviews with children aged 9-18 and the heads of their households, focus group discussions, case studies and a special survey with children living on the street. The research found that 91% of children in school experience physical punishment. Poorer children were more likely to experience it, with greater frequency and severity, than richer students. Punishments included hitting the palm with a ruler or stick (experienced by 76% of students), standing in class, hitting other body parts with a ruler or stick, and slapping. 23% of students said they faced corporal punishment every day and 7% reported injuries and bleeding as a result. Corporal punishment was one of the top four reasons children gave for not attending school. In the home, 99.3% of children reported being verbally abused and threatened regularly by their parents, while 74% said they were physically punished by parents or guardians. 70% were usually slapped, and 40% were regularly beaten or kicked. 367 of the children who took part in the study worked outside the home. Of these, 25% experienced physical punishment in their workplace, with older girls and young boys receiving more physical punishment than other groups. Girls were more likely to be seriously injured by corporal punishment than boys. Physical punishment in the workplace was felt to be unacceptable by 59% of working children.
UNICEF, 2009, Opinions of Children of Bangladesh on Corporal Punishment: Children’s Opinion Poll 2008, Dhaka: UNICEF & Ministry of Women and Children Affairs
A study reported in 2005 of 153 children in 16 groups and 109 adults in 13 groups examined behaviours children liked and behaviour children disliked. The children identified a total of 1,043 behaviours that they disliked from people in the immediate family, educational settings and the workplace. Of these, 293 were categorised as physical discipline/punishment, 206 as verbal discipline/punishment, and 66 as other kinds of discipline/punishment, representing the top three disliked behaviours.
(Government of Bangladesh/UNICEF/Save the Children Alliance, 2005, Child Abuse Study: Study Report, Draft Version, 25 January 2005)
A survey by Save the Children of more than 2,500 child domestic workers in Dhaka found that almost two thirds of employers said they were prepared to beat their servants.
(Reported in Jabeen, F., 2004, Corporal/physical and psychological punishment of girls and boys in South and Central Asia Region, Save the Children Sweden Denmark)