The use of corporal punishment has far-reaching effects and can cause mental and physical harm to children as well as short and long-term aggression and anti-social behaviour in pupils, even as they mature.

The SA Human Rights Commission (HRC) said this on Friday in response to earlier reports that Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi supported a ‘strong review’ of the law that banned corporal punishment in schools.

According to a TimesLIVE report, the commission said if these insinuations in the report are accurate, it would be concerned in light of the right to bodily and psychological integrity and the right not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman and degrading manner, particularly given the lack of agency that pupils have and the extremely violent society in which we live.

Meanwhile, Lesufi on Friday rejected reports insinuating he had called for the return of corporal punishment.

Lesufi said he had indicated it was the community’s democratic right to review certain education policies if they wished to do so.

The Gauteng Education Department said Lesufi never advocated or supported the administration of corporal punishment in any way.

‘The review of a certain policy has never been equated to the support of a particular view,’ Lesufi said.

The HRC said corporal punishment was not a solution to disciplinary problems in a school or any other setting.

‘Conversely, corporal punishment increases behavioural problems in children in the long-term and has shown no positive behavioural outcomes.’

Full TimesLIVE report