ANALYSIS OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SELECTED BASIC SCHOOLS IN ATWIMA KWANWOMA DISTRICT

ABSTRACT The rationale for this study is to do systematic investigation into the prevalence of corporal punishment, kinds of offences that attract corporal punishment, the long and short term effects of corporal punishment, and the alternatives to management of misbehavior. The design used for this work is descriptive survey. The researcher wanted to describe the characteristics of the targeted population and their phenomenon. This made the researcher to use descriptive survey. The investigator used stratified sampling technique to get sample for his study. Views of 160 students and 40 teachers were gathered from some basic schools in the district using questionnaire with likert-scale type items like not serious at all, not serious, serious, and very serious. A pre-test of the questionnaire was conducted using 5 teachers and 10 students. Opinions of the respondents differ on whether corporal punishment should be banned in schools. Some teachers are aware of the code of disciplining students in schools but are against its ban. However, some of the findings were that, corporal punishment was on the ascendency in the district and also respondents showed interest in the use of non-violent means of correcting misbehaviour than to use physical or corporal punishment. There is therefore the need to inculcate into the curriculum of colleges of education positive and non-violent methods of correcting misbehaviour and also the school leadership should ensure that the code of discipline by the Ghana Education Service is enforced.