SWABI, Dec 19: Corporal punishment in schools is a major cause of the rising dropout rate in the country, according to speakers at a workshop held on Monday. Organized by the Child Rights Committee of Sparc, the workshop viewed the adverse effects of corporal punishment on children.

The speakers said that children were the real builders of the future and the teaching community should understand their importance for their institutions and the country.

According to them, physical punishment has driven away many youths from education and made them turn to illegal activities. These drop-outs have become a burden on our feeble economy, they said.

Experts in child education said it was time the teaching community phased out corporal punishment and adopted productive methods to stimulate learning among children.

Citing available data, it was said that teachers, principals, proctors, watchmen and senior students were involved in corporal punishment at different times and different stages of student life.

Primary school children were the main target of corporal punishment with 43 per cent incidents reported in primary classrooms. A majority of the drop-out cases occurred at the primary level.

The speakers said that incidence of physical punishment was measured at 9.9 per cent in high schools and 31.71 per cent in middle schools. But they said the ratio of punishment in all private schools was 16.27 per cent.

The teachers attending the workshop said that punishment was their final option through which they wanted to convey education to students. They alleged that parents were equally involved in their case because they failed to fulfil the needs of their children.

The teachers of private schools said that they had turned to such punishment in order to achieve better results in the examinations because it was the demand of school owners.