Caning

A picture showing the marks left on a female student's palm after one stroke of the cane

Caning as a school punishment is still routine in a number of former British territories including Singapore,[13] Malaysia and Zimbabwe. It is also common in some countries where it is technically illegal, including Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea.

Until relatively recently it had also been common in Australia (now banned in public schools, and abolished in practice by the vast majority of all independent schools),[14] New Zealand (banned from 1990),[15] and South Africa (banned in public and private schools alike from 1996).[16] In the UK, all corporal punishment in private schools was banned in 1999 for England and Wales,[17] 2000 in Scotland,[18][19] and 2003 in Northern Ireland.[20]

In Malaysia, the Education Ordinance 1957 specifically outlaws the caning of girls in school.[21] However, the caning of girls is rather common. This caning is usually carried out on the palm or clothed bottom. [22][23][24][25][26] Sometimes, the cane can hit the student's thighs or arms, causing injury, usually in the form of bruises, bleeding, or obvious welts.[27][28] Students (both male and female) can even be caned publicly for minor mistakes like lateness, poor grades, being unable to answer questions correctly or forgetting to bring a textbook. [27] In November 2007, in response to a perceived increase in indiscipline among female students, the National Seminar on Education Regulations (Student Discipline) passed a resolution recommending allowing the caning of female students at school.[29] The resolution is currently in its consultation process.

In many state and private schools in England, Scotland and Wales, the rattan cane was regularly used across the hands, legs, or buttocks of both boys and girls.[30][31][32] This was prior to abolition in 1987.

In some schools, corporal punishment was administered solely by the headmaster, while in others the task was delegated to other teachers.

The cane was generally administered in a formal ceremony in public/private to the seat of the trousers or skirt, typically with the student either bending over a desk/chair or touching their toes. Usually there was a maximum of six strokes (known as "six of the best"). Such a caning would typically leave the offender with uncomfortable weals and bruises lasting for many days after the immediate intense pain had worn off.

Elsewhere, other implements prevailed, such as the tawse in Scotland and Northern England, ruler, and the slipper.

Girls were caned too, but generally less frequently than boys. [33][34] According to a 1976-1977 survey done by the Inner London Inspection Authority's Inspectors, almost 1 in 5 girls were caned at least once in the authority's schools alone.[35] Caning in all-girls schools were rarer but not unseen. [36][37][38]

Caning in British state schools in the later 20th century was often, in theory at least, administered by the head teacher only. Canings for primary school age pupils at state schools in this period could be extremely rare; one study found that over an eight-year timespan, one head teacher had only caned two boys in total, but made more frequent use of slippering, while another had caned no pupils at all.[39]

In many English and Commonwealth private schools, authority to punish was traditionally also given to certain senior students (often called prefects). In the early 20th century, permission for prefects to cane younger students (mainly secondary-age boys) was also widespread in British public schools. Some private preparatory schools relied heavily on "self-government" by prefects for even their youngest pupils (around eight years old), with caning the standard punishment for even minor offences.[40] The perceived advantages of this were to avoid bothering the teaching staff with minor disciplinary matters, promptness of punishment, and more effective chastisement, as the impact would be better known in the culprit's immediate peer group.[41] Canings from prefects took place for a wide variety of failings, including lack of enthusiasm in sport, or to enforce youngsters' participation in character-building aspects of public school life, such as compulsory cold baths in winter.[42][43]

Some British private schools still permitted caning to be administered by prefects in the 1960s, with opportunities for it provided by complex sets of rules on school uniform and behaviour.[44] In 1969, when the question was raised in Parliament, it was thought that relatively few schools still permitted this.[45]

As early as the 1920s, the tradition of prefects at British public schools repeatedly caning new boys for trivial offences was criticised by psychologists as producing "a high state of nervous excitement" in some of the youngsters subjected to it. It was felt that granting untrained and unsupervised older adolescents the power to impose comprehensive thrashings on their younger schoolmates whenever they chose might have adverse psychological effects.[46]

Like their British counterparts, South African private schools also gave prefects free rein to administer canings whenever they felt it appropriate, from at least the late 19th century onwards.[47] South African schools continued to use the cane to emphasise sporting priorities well into the late 20th century, caning boys for commonplace gameplay errors such as being caught offside in an association football match, as well as for poor batting performance in cricket, not applauding their school team's performance sufficiently, missing sport practice sessions, or even "to build up team spirit".[48] The use of corporal punishment within the school setting was prohibited by the South African Schools Act of 1996. According to Chapter 2 Section 10 of the act, (1) No person may administer corporal punishment at a school to a learner and (2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a sentence, which could be imposed for assault.[49]

Many approved schools were known for strict discipline, with corporal punishment used where deemed necessary, generally a rather more severe version of the caning or strapping that was common in ordinary secondary schools.[50]

Before the 1933 rules, there was a case where several teenage girls aged 13 and above were severely tawsed up to 12 strokes on the seat, with their skirts lifted up.[51]

From 1933 to 1970, the cane was frequently used on boy inmates and less routinely for girls inmates, at the British youth reformatories known as approved schools. Per the Approved School Rules 1933, girls under 15 should be caned only on the hands; girls of 15 and over were not to be given caning at all. Boys under 15 could be caned on the hands or the bottom; boys of 15 and over were to be caned only on the clothed buttocks. [52]

From 1970, approved schools became "Community Homes with Education" under the Children and Young Persons Act 1969.[53] Girls were as a result sometimes to be caned on the buttocks instead of the hands.[54][55] In some cases boys or girls of all ages were caned, in spite of a government recommendation that over-16s should no longer be caned.[56]

The normal maximum number of strokes was eight for boys and girls of 15 and over, and six for children below that age. Particularly, boys and girls[55] who absconded were given a maximum caning of 8 strokes on the clothed bottom immediately on return to the school, and a 1971 statistical study found that this could be an effective deterrent.[57]

Caning is still used on inmates of both genders in the equivalent institutions in some countries, such as Singapore and Guyana.

Corporal punishment at children's homes was less severe. The Administration of Children's Homes Regulations 1951 (S.O. No 1217) provided that children under 10 should be punished only on their hands either by the headmaster or in his presence and direction.

Only girls under 10 and boys under the school leaving age (15 at that time) can be corporally punished. Children under 10 should be punished only on their hands. A boy over 10 but under 15 could be caned up to a maximum of six strokes on the clothed posterior.