IT WAS reported in the news and on social media yesterday that there was an incident involving a secondary school girl in Johor Baru who had been caned multiple times across her arms and legs, leaving visible red welts on her skin.

Pictures of the girl were circulated on social media, whipping up a frenzy.

Some argued that it was fine for teachers to discipline students with caning and that the parent was making a big deal here.

Some even said the child was “spoilt” and a “drama queen” for filing a police complaint and scolding the teacher.

Then there were those who sided the girl and her mother, saying this was unacceptable behaviour on the part of the teacher.

In the online video recording, a woman, who is thought to be the student’s mother, was heard questioning a male teacher over the caning of her daughter.

Apparently the girl had called the teacher “ah qua lao shi”, which means “transgender” or “effeminate teacher”, and the teacher was humiliated as a result.

He further justified his actions by saying that she did not apologise for her remark.

The Education Ministry has now initiated an investigation into the incident and the outcome remains to be seen.

This is not the first time this has happened in Malaysia. It is a familiar story, which is alarming.

Corporal punishment is allowed in public schools and is used as a means of enforcing discipline.

Some say only the palms and buttocks may be caned.

Others say this only applies for boys and girls should not be caned.

There seems to be a certain amount of discretion on the part of the schools and teachers. I found it disturbing that whoever I asked gave me a different answer.

In this case, it was a girl who was caned. The welts I saw were on her arms and leg. Red, angry marks.

The teacher must have hit her very hard to leave marks like that, which to me is unacceptable.

Students should not be caned, whether girls or boys.

It is a barbaric form of punishment, which can lead to both grave physical and emotional damage. The scars take a long time to heal.

In cases where the caning is severe, the injuries serious enough to cause fractures or broken bones.

Is this how a teacher should behave? It is a form of abuse of power and can even be sadistic, depending on the perpetrator.

If the purpose is to discipline the student, what about other methods such as counselling or mediation by a professionally qualified person?

Perhaps the student may have other issues that need to be handled to get to the root cause of the problem.

It would be a conflict of interests for the teacher to handle the troublesome student. A skilled and neutral third party should do it.

Another method is to use community service as a means of atonement for bad behaviour on the student’s part.

For instance, you could get him or her to take part in cleaning up school grounds.

A great way to teach a student a lesson they will always remember is to get them to collect rubbish in common areas such as the canteen, assembly area, classrooms, fields.

Asking them to wash the school toilet is another option. That is something no student will ever forget: wiping the windowpanes, painting the walls.

These are all things that students can do in community service.

If they have failed to do their homework, give them double the amount of homework and assignments as a form of punishment.

There are surely other ways, besides caning, to teach students what is right and what is wrong. As teachers, we ought to lead by example.

Give them hours of detention on a Saturday morning if necessary.

Be interactive, call in the parents and explain what happened.

Ask if there any other problems the student could be facing. Sometimes it is not that the student is being deliberately mischievous, rude or troublesome. There could be other issues.

A good friend of mine was once called to school when her son had been in trouble.

He had not handed in his homework several times and the teacher got fed up. Fair enough.

However, she was then asked to come to school to witness him being caned. It still fills me with disbelief and horror to recall this incident.

The teacher had several canes and asked him to choose one. She then proceeded to cane him, and asked my friend and her husband to watch.

Though she did not apparently cane him with much force, that was irrelevant. It was still a sadistic act.

The emotional scars it would have left the boy, particularly as he was a student with a sensitive personality, could be lifelong.

The whole incident left a sordid taste in my mouth. Needless to say, my friend, her husband and their child felt deeply humiliated by the incident.

One of my own sons too was caned by one of this tuition teachers until his legs were blue-black in colour.

In fact, the caning was so severe that he almost fractured a bone. He could not walk properly for weeks.

Was this an acceptable form of punishment for a young child who had merely not done his homework on time?

I was appalled at the blatant cruelty of the teacher. When I questioned her, she never apologised, and instead astonishingly defended her actions by saying that I was an overprotective parent.

I reiterated that it was a criminal offence causing bodily harm to a student in this manner.

Yet she was resolute that her actions were justified.

Having been in the teaching profession for more than two decades, I do sympathise with teachers.

We are human after all, and we too make mistakes. I remember how once I had a student who kept uttering vulgar expletives in class, and when I asked him not to do so, he angrily replied “Do you know who my father is?”

I replied that I neither knew nor cared. This led to both him and me feeling very angry.

I recall taking a deep breath and telling the class that we would have a short break, because I needed to compose myself.

I think if the student could have hit me, he may have. I later learnt that he had displayed disruptive and violent behaviour before.

Looking back, that boy did me a favour. He taught me that the minute you feel anger, take a big breath. Leave the class for a while if you must.

Go back in when you, and hopefully the student, are no longer angry. Anger is a destructive emotion and a waste of our energy. As teachers, we must learn to control it and not let it control us.

Teaching is a wonderful yet challenging profession. Most of the time, the classroom is a joyful experience.

Students come in all forms: some may make you laugh, some may make you cry. Some may not display any emotion at all and sit still like zombies in class, making you feel frustrated.

However, a teacher should never be the cause of intentional pain and suffering to a student. That is not our job.

We need to teach them and show them the right way through example, and using violence is simply not the solution.

If we cane them, they will feel that the use of violence and intentional harm caused to another is an acceptable form of conflict resolution.

We know that violence begets violence, so who knows who they may harm in retaliation or revenge?

They may resort to inflicting harm on someone who is weaker than them and exert their power over them.

This is how abusive, aggressive and dangerous bullies are born.  

At the end of the day, ask yourself this question: what kind of teacher do you want your child to have?

Someone who teaches a lesson by inspiring and motivating, or someone who seeks to terrify and torture by caning a child?

* Meera Badmanaban reads The Malaysian Insight

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.