'Spare the rod, spoil the child' - Falmouth mayor calls for resumption of corporal punishment in schools

WESTERN BUREAU:

Mayor of Falmouth and Chairman of the Trelawny Parish Council, Garth Wilkinson, is calling for a resumption of corporal punishment in Jamaican schools.
According to Wilkinson, the Ministry of Education made a grave error when it suspended corporal punishment in schools.
"We have reached the stage where we have made the major mistake of saying no more flogging in schools. No longer can a teacher correct our children. It is a sad day when we can no longer punish our children. I am one of them that say no to sparing the rod and spoiling the child," Wilkinson said.

Mayor of Falmouth: Garth Wilkinson

The mayor made his comments during his address at the Kiwanis Club of New Falmouth's Family Forum held at the council's chambers last week Thursday.
He said it was painful that Jamaica had reached the stage where practices from other countries were adopted for use in Jamaica despite the fact that sometimes they did not apply to the local situation. He said corporal punishment, which was used in the past, was effective in curbing unruly behavior.
"We have adopted principles and qualities from other countries, which have built prisons where 70 per cent of the persons in prison are people looking like you and me. Why is it that we are taking things from other countries and just throwing them down on our country when they are not relevant to us? We must stop this practice," Wilkinson said.
The Falmouth mayor said the country had failed to effectively parent children as statistics painted a grim picture, placing children at the heart of the crimes which are being committed across the country.
"The simple fact is that 40 per cent of the crimes committed are by youth 13 to 18 years old, which means that we are failing in our ability to raise children. We, therefore, need to be the eyes and ears for the parents as all persons who children meet with have an influence on them," he said.
Wilkinson said children who were ignored today could become "assassins of the future", while those who were nurtured and guided would contribute to areas vital to national development. He added that children were vulnerable to the influence of various people in the society, including entertainers, who become role models for them.
"We cannot surrender to the secular artistes to teach them the way of youth - to be young and restless for all the days of their lives. God said train up a child in the way he should go, and we must take this as a serious responsibility," he said.