The High Court in Zimbabwe has illegalised the physical punishment for children in schools and at home.
Corporal punishment is no longer allowed in Zimbabwe after a parent filed a complaint regarding her child’s bruises caused by the beating of a teacher.
According to the BBC, Linah Pfungwa, told the state-run newspaper, Chronicle, that her daughter was punished for not having her reading book signed by her parents to prove that she completed her homework. Pfungwa filed the complaint with the help of the Justice for Children’s Trust, an NGO in Zimbabwe.
“My child suffered major bruises and I took photographs and pictures… She had deep bruises on her back and she could hardly sleep properly,” Pfungwa said.
“I posted the pictures of my daughter on our WhatsApp group for other parents to observe and it turned out that other children had also been assaulted.”
In the same report, Justice David Mangota of the High Court in Zimbabwe agreed that parents and teachers should not be allowed to beat children and that this should be deemed unconstitutional.
Once the constitutional court upholds the judgment, BBC‘s Shingai Nyoka said that it would radically change the ways in which parents and teachers have disciplined their kids in the southern African country.
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