WOMEN FLOGGING
Commission recommends women should be whipped like men
Women aged below 50 years should also be whipped like men on their bare back if they misbehave, this is a recommendation of members of the Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution of Botswana.
The recommendation which has already reached President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s desk was made after many Batswana complained that indiscipline, especially among young people, has increased significantly, thus they want corporal punishment to be used as a correction tool without fear or favour.
The stick, Batswana have said, should also be used in schools to beat the stubbornness out of students who have seemingly grown horns. Some of these young people go on to abuse alcohol and drugs then misbehave.
So bad is the situation that parents are even abused while teachers are battered and insulted in schools. In one recent incident, a teacher was forced to run for dear life after being
attacked by students at Moshupa Senior Secondary School. The teacher was traumatised, his shoes missing and pants all torn.
It has been debated many times in the past if the use of the stick should be allowed in schools or not. Those against it have always argued that Botswana should move on with the times, arguing that the use of the stick is outdated.
Beating children, they said, is barbaric and does not guarantee that students will not continue misbehaving, if anything, the stick made matters worse as some students turn rebellious.
The difference in opinion often puts teachers in an awkward position as some parents do not take lightly to their children being whipped. They hold teachers accountable whenever their children return home with bruised buttocks and fingers.
With female students, it became even a complicated matter with many arguing that the female body was not physically strong to withstand being lashed on the buttocks or even on the back.