The Commissioner for Education in Lagos State, Folashade Adefisayo, says that the state government has stopped all forms of corporal punishment in its public schools.

Mrs Adefisayo, represented by Adumasi Bosede, a director in the ministry, said this at the scientific conference of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, on Wednesday.

She explained that this was to avert incidents where corporal punishment was meted out to students and resulted in the death of the child or student involved.

“To avert such ugly incidents, including other negative effects of corporal punishment; there is a policy in Lagos State prohibiting teachers from inflicting corporal punishment on students and pupils in schools.”

Mrs Adefisayo spoke on “Corporal Punishment in the Modern African Setting”, with the Sub-theme: Examining the Scientific Evidence behind Corporal Punishment.”

“Meanwhile, there are other alternative ways to discipline and correct children, which are being adopted in the schools,” she said.

The president of ARD, Samuel Aladejare, described corporal punishment as one of the burning issues in society now, as it was prevalent in schools, homes and even workplaces.

Mr Aladejare said that there was the need to urgently address the issue, to put an end to all forms of corporal punishment in society.

(NAN)