Somewhere, not far from here

Yesterday, I was tagged by a friend on Facebook to read an article in the Daily Guide, one of Ghana’s newspapers. The article reports the death of an 8-year old girl who died, allegedly, from a caning she received from her teacher for doing poorly in a mental exercise.

I am at once saddened and angered that these kinds of things still continue to happen here in Ghana. I just did a google search and was horrified to learn that the Ghana Education Service has never “officially” banned caning in schools. Headmasters are allowed to use their discretion to administer 6 lashes of the cane.

My children, all of whom attend a quasi-private school here in Tema, have a fear of the lash or the cane or the “black beauty” as one teacher quaintly referred to a hard lengthy piece of black rubber. Sean has been caned, and I came to know of it after the fact, when he reported that the headmistress of the school (his previous one in Accra) caned him and another student for playing football on the balcony. He told me that he protected himself by wearing “armor” beneath his school shorts, i.e. several pairs of underpants and boxer shorts. Funny, right? Not at all.

One of the questions we always ask when we apply to a school is about their position on caning and corporal punishment. Invariably, they all deny that they use it as a means of discipline. Granted, my children have not been “caned” at SOS. They have, however, been subjected to various other forms of punishment including being made to kneel down on gravel with their arms upheld over their heads for an undetermined length of time, having to clean the (absolutely disgusting) bathrooms or the gutters or having to march in the hot equatorial sun.

Gee, I know it was a long time ago that I was in public school – 1966 through 1979 – but I can’t recall ever being punished in any manner such as these. Yes, I had to stand in the corner or wear a piece of gum on my nose or write lines over and over again. I was no angel – a goody-two-shoes, perhaps – but certainly not an angel. Nonetheless, no teacher ever laid a hand on me, or forced me to do manual labor (other than cleaning a blackboard, of course).

Caning a child because she was doing poorly in her dictation and mental… I still can’t believe that. What if she wasn’t feeling well? Perhaps she was malarial, or had slept poorly the night before, or hadn’t eaten and was merely hungry and distracted? Or what if – shocker – she was just not a good student?

Herein lies the crux of the whole caning issue. The continuing misguided belief of ignorant people that discipline and punishment is the only way to ensure that a child excels in school. Nothing about reward or encouragement or nurturing or empowerment. Nothing about doing your personal best. It’s all about being “the” best. Being number one.

News flash! We.Can’t.All.Be.Number.One.

I will probably anger a lot of Ghanaian parents because, if they went through the school system here, it may be what they continue to believe. They all feel that they lived through it (relatively unscathed), and so should their children. Heck, my husband still believes it, and it is probably the primary cause of stress in our marriage.

Not that long ago, Mrs. Anna Bossman, the Acting Commissioner of CHRAJ (Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice) visited a public school to talk to children about child abuse. I am sure that this case will be brought to her attention and, knowing her as I do, that she will take a firm stand and bring this matter to resolution. Let’s hope the Ghana Education Service does, too.

Of course, there will be no resolution for a mother and father who are today making plans to bury their child. There may be closure, but that’s little comfort.

Somewhere, not far from here, a mother is crying. She shouldn’t have to be.