Implications Of Corporal Punishment On Student Behaviour And Academic Performance In The Capital City Of Kiribati

This study investigated the implications of corporal punishment in junior secondary schools.Physical discipline of children: Children may learn at an early age that physical violence is normal(cycle of violence)(SPC,2010).Identical studies on the impact of corporal punishment discovered negative physical and psychological effects on students’ behaviour which were linked adversely to poor academic performance and behaviour.This study used both a questionnaire and structured interview methods,where data were collected from 32 students from four Junior Secondary Schools(JSS)composed of four male and four female students using purposive sampling techniques.The students’ ages ranged from 12 to 15 years.This study examined how JSS students perceive the impact of corporal punishment in school and at home.The data highlight two impacts of corporal punishment.The deterrence theory of punishment was employed to frame the research through which culture,parenting,and education are the main realms of corporal punishment application in the Kiribati context.It then extensively examined the outcomes in terms of their relationship with students’ perceptions and experiences.The first corresponds to existing literature findings on the negative physical and psychological effects to which it inflicts pain,causing comfort and fear.Intellectually,negative emotional effects contribute to learning progress.25 percent of students stated that corporal punishment can affect their mental capacity to acquire concepts.Although the negative physical and psychological effects of physical punishment were examined as a consequence of this research,students deliberately ignored them when they obeyed their parents and avoided corporal punishment.As a result,students reform desirable behaviour and work constantly to achieve academic goals set forth by their parents.In this case,corporal punishment is advantageous only because children gone through it as grown up at home.Corporal punishment,in this case,is positive solely in its existence at home rather than in school.However,students reported that corporal punishment is continuously executed in school despite the implemented child safe school policy.It is advisable for educational policymakers to strengthen monitoring and supervising the policy to ensure that corporal punishment is effective in serving its purpose of eliminating violence against students through physical punishment and advocating a safe,secure,and conducive learning environment.