Parents in Chinese schools okay with caning

PETALING JAYA: Parents of children in Chinese primary schools are fine with caning as a punishment, as long as it is not excessive.

Parent Noratika has no problems with her primary school children being caned by the teachers, as she canes them herself.

“The teachers only cane students lightly on the palm, and only when the students misbehaved.

“At home, I also make sure I explain to my children why I am caning them and what they have done wrong.

“As long as the caning is done properly, not in anger and without causing harm to the children, it is all right because it’s a good way of instilling discipline,” she said.

Noratika added that other parents at the school held a similar view.

“I think that when you send your children to a Chinese school, you are already aware that discipline is a priority,” she said.

Another parent, Lee, agreed, adding that teachers at his eight-year-old son’s school inform parents if a child had been caned.

“I’m fine with it as long as the child is caned with good reason, and the punishment isn’t excessive,” he said.

Some parents, however, feel that caning should not be the go-to option.

“As far as I understand, there is no more caning at my son’s school. I think it’s okay for teachers to lightly cane students on the hands as a warning,” said Loi Chong.

She said she preferred to talk to her 12-year-old son instead of caning him, but added that “parents these days are so busy and a quicker way of disciplining children is to cane them”.

P. Shalini felt that not all pupils would respond positively to being caned, citing her own child as an example.

“When my son was in Year Four last year, I found out he was being caned because he kept scoring Cs for Mathematics.

“I found this to be unnecessarily harsh, and it didn’t help to improve his grades either, so I spoke to his teachers about this.

“It was tough changing their mindset, but the caning stopped and my son’s grades slowly improved,” she said.