At the Mercy of Our Teachers (Part 1)

A Little Backstory

  Imagine, my dear reader, that you are a parent; a parent that has just enrolled your child into a well-known school. 

 Many like the school for its academic performance, but you like it for other reasons. You, for example, like it for its teachers, who engage with the students in a calm and caring way. You also like the students of this school, especially those vibrant ones that seem to always put your child in a confident and positive mood.  

  You, like many others, are happy that your child goes to Atlas Primary School. 

  But there are some that do not share your positive impression of this school. And it is only a matter of time before some parents tell you about a certain teacher. A teacher that is cause for concern. 

 They warn you of this teacher’s authoritative ways. They tell you of her harsh punishments and how it is affecting the students. So much so that some of those confident and vibrant children are now becoming timid, apprehensive and are underperforming in their classes. 

  You, at first, brush them off. You think these parents are either exaggerating or just being overprotective. So you tell them to not be concerned. You remind them that children need structure and reassure them that their children are safe. 

 But these parents do not relent. They argue with you, stressing time and time again that this teacher is only getting worse. You, confident as you are, remind them of the school’s policy on corporal punishment and maintain that no teacher would openly strike a child when it is against the law. 

  Which is why you are lost for words when this teacher, inevitably, hits your child. You get angry; but not as angry as when you see its effects on your child’s demeanor and academic performance. And as the hitting continues, you are left with no other choice but to report her to the school.

  The school, thankfully, would go on to fire this teacher. But you soon discover that she not only sued the school, but that she was also winning her case. With the highest court in the country making this remarkable claim: 

“ተጠሪ ፈጸሙ የተባለው ድርጊት ከአስተማሪነት ኃላፊነት እና ግዴታቸው የወጣና ያልተገባ ስለመሆኑ አልተረጋገጠም።”

  You begin to realize that the courts do not see this for the clear-cut case that it is; and with every decision going in the teacher’s favor, you cannot help but complain to your family and friends. 

  Your loved ones, unsurprisingly, would not only agree with the teacher but would go on to ridicule you and the school for your actions. 

  They tell you that you are spoiling your child; that you are raising them as a ፈረንጅ. They remind you that you benefited from corporal punishment just as much as they did. And the more you challenge them, the more they resort to a timeless Amharic saying: 

“የማይመቱት ልጅ ቢቆጡት ያለቅሳል።”

Some Important Questions

 Now I imagine most of you reading this piece are not too surprised by what happened at Atlas Primary School.

  In fact, I suspect most of you have either seen teachers hitting students or have experienced it first hand when you were a child. And if you were lucky enough to have never experienced it? Well, I think it is safe to say that you are very familiar with statements like this: 

“ልጆች ተቀተው እና ተመተው ማደግ አለባቸው ወይ? አዎ። ምንም አይደለም። issueም አይደለም። በቤተሰቦቻችን፣ በትምህርትቤቶችም በደንብ ተገርፈን ነው ያደግነው። ጠፍጥፈውም ያሳደጉን አደብ እንድንገዛ እና መስመር እስከምንይዝ ድረስ ነው። ግዴታ ነው። ያልተመታ ልጅ የለም። ወይ ፈረንጅ ናቸው ወይም በህይወት ያልነበሩ ናቸው እንጂ ተገርፈን ነው ያደግነው።” 

Naol Abera

Legal Analyst & Social Commentator

  But the fact that such a teacher would go unpunished by our courts raises some interesting questions. Questions like: 
 

 How do we judge the actions of our professionals? Do we judge them in light of our cultural attitudes? Or do we use other, more objective, standards? 

  Well, it might interest you to know that our laws are very clear on this matter. And we only have to look to Ethiopia’s Civil Code to understand what is expected of our teachers: 

“A person practicing a profession shall, in the practice of such profession, observe the rules governing that practice.” 

Article 2031

  So, if rules are so important, what do the rules say about teachers using corporal punishment? 

A Constitutional Rule

 The first rule can be found in Ethiopia’s Constitution, but I am guessing this is the first time you are hearing about it. 

  In fact, I assume most of you did not know that our Constitution, in a very clear and direct way, prohibits teachers from hitting their students. And given how important this document is, at least in legal circles, it is safe to say that our judges do not have your luxury. 

 They do not have the luxury of not knowing. 

 Instead, they are expected, more than any other public official, to know, fairly interpret and dutifully enforce a Constitution that clearly states:

“ማንኛውም ሕጻን በትምህርት ቤቶች ውስጥ በአካሉ ከሚፈጸም ቅጣት ነጻ የመሆን መብት አለው።” 

አንቀጽ 36 (1)

 Unfortunately, not a single one of the courts that ruled against Atlas Primary School would bring up article 36. Meaning that a total of 11 judges failed to mention a constitutional provision that clearly prohibits teachers from hitting their students.  

  And by failing to consider article 36, these judges not only ignored one of the most important rules governing the teaching profession. They also, as we will see, overlook the many other regulations, directives and guidelines that tried to enforce this constitutional rule.

Some Other Rules & Regulations

 For example, the Ministry of Education has, since the 1990s, banned teachers from physically discipling their students.  

 Whether we are looking at a 1998 directive that did not include physical punishments in a list of acceptable disciplinary methods, a regulation from 2002 that explicitly prohibited the use of corporal punishment or a series of guidelines on how to report and discipline teachers that are hitting their students, the Ministry of Education has had a very clear position on this issue. 

  A position it expressed in a 2010 policy paper: 

“The Ministry of Education and the regional educational bureaus have issued school regulations that prohibit any form of corporal punishment against children.”

The National Policy Framework for Early Childhood Care & Education

  Similarly, the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs has also tried to protect students from corporal punishment.

  Whether it was the Ministry’s manual on positive child disciplining techniques, its guidelines promoting those disciplinary measures that do not use physical punishments or the Ministry using these manuals and guidelines to train teachers and school principals, each of these measures point to an important and undeniable fact. 

   A fact that the Minister articulated in the following quote: 

“Corporal punishment in institutional settings is prohibited. We have consistently provided training to the judiciary as well as other organs working on child rights issues.” 

Zenebu Tadesse

The Minister of Women, Children and Youth Affairs at the Time of the Atlas Primary School Case

   Now I imagine there are some of you that are still unwilling to accept this obvious state of affairs. So, to those of you still questioning whether corporal punishment is prohibited in Ethiopian schools, I urge you to look at one other thing.

  I urge you to go look at a series of government reports that were released in 2005, 2010, 2012 and 2021. These documents, which were collectively developed by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Addis Ababa University, the Kotebe Teacher Education Institute and the Federal Supreme Court, make one thing abundantly clear. They make it clear that all types of physical punishments are prohibited in Ethiopian schools. 

As one of these reports put it: 

“The Federal Constitution has explicitly prohibited the corporal punishment of children in schools. This constitutional principle has found specific implementation through a directive by the Ministry of Education. Accordingly, any form of corporal punishment in schools is prohibited.” 

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s Report on Violence Against Children

  Our courts, unfortunately, would choose to ignore this constitutional principle along with every one of the regulations, directives, guidelines, training sessions, state reports and policy papers listed above. 

  They ignored all of these rules in their Atlas Primary School ruling and would ignore them again in another case only a few years later; leading to yet another remarkable statement from our “objective” judges: 

“አስተማሪው በተማሪው የወሰደው እርምጃ በቅጣት መልክ መቶታል ከሚባል በስተቀር ጉዳት ለማድረስ በማሰብ የፈጸመው ድርጊት ካልሆነ አስተማሪውን ከስራ የሚያሰናበት ህጋዊ ምክንያት አይሆንም።” 

So, what are we to make of this? 

 Why would our courts, in two different cases, make rulings that clearly disregard the Constitution?  

 Why do our teachers, repeatedly and unapologetically, go against rules that are supposed to regulate them? 

 And why do we always associate disciplining a child with hitting them? 

Click Here For Part 2 of “ At the Mercy of Our Teachers”