Despite being legally banned, corporal punishment continues in schools, a survey showed.
Nearly 30 percent of junior high and 20 percent of elementary school students have experienced corporal punishment, according to a survey released yesterday by the Humanistic Education Foundation (HEF).
The poll found that the most common form of corporal punishment in elementary schools was beating and squat jumps in junior highs.
Foundation chief director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) said corporal punishment still exists even though it was banned by the government in 2006.
Teachers also use other methods to discipline children.
The foundation said 20 percent of elementary and junior- high school students had faced verbal abuse or threats from their teachers.
Some teachers call student names like “junk,” while others apply collateral punishment, which may result in vicious competition and hatred among students, Feng said.
Behaviorally challenged students are also assigned “special seats” in about 70 percent of schools, and more than 10 percent of students are punished for poor performance in group competitions.
National Alliance of Parents Organization head Gordan Hsieh (謝國清) urged the government to set clear penalties for teachers who violate the law by beating kids.
Hsieh called on the government to create a hotline for victims of inappropriate conduct by teachers and to speed up the implementation of a teacher evaluation system.
The survey polled students in 22 cities and counties, collecting 1,093 effective samples from junior-high schools and 1,137 from elementary schools.
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