Many people judge the superiority of the country based on its economic resources and the currency in the world market. I am if the firm view that the success if each and every country should be judged based on the quality of education and the educational system that prevails in that country. The first democratic president of South Africa once said in his famous speeches: “education is the most powerful tool we can use to change the world”. Education serves as a primary back-bone for every developed and developing country. In essence, education plays a very fundamental role in addressing the country’s socio economic issues. With the number of policies and school’s act having been introduced and implemented in the new democratic dispensation in South African post 1994, the education sector of South Africa has taken a major shift away from the apartheid education system.
Many teachers start off teaching learners through formal learning and when learners’ battle or struggle, corporal punishment is used by teachers. Children should be treated as children not as adults. Mkhize (2000) maintains that “primary learning for young children in school comes not through direct teaching, but with social and intellectual interactions both with the teachers and the children’s social allies”. For example, during the times when I was still in primary school, the grade 6 teacher conducted direct teaching to learners and if they fail to understand, corporal punishment was an order of the day
One major noticeable shift was that of banning or abolishing corporal punishment in schools. According to chapter 2 of Act no: 84 of 1996 South African School’s act, in the subsection that speaks to “prohibition of corporal punishment in school clause 10.1 stipulates clearly that “no person may administer corporal punishment at school to a learner”. Clause 10.2 further state that “any person who