Dear Editor:

Now that the government has abolished corporal punishment in schools, there is urgent need of a national awareness campaign aimed at headmasters, teachers, parents, guardians, pupils and everyone involved with children, to get the message across to them and the abolition effective.

Rather than just depending on a directive from the Ministry of Education, we can all help. When my wife, Sara (who is a nurse) and I first read the story written by Sir Frank Peters calling for an end to the inhumane practice, we were most upset, disappointed, and enraged with anger.

We felt bad about ourselves for not having seen the obvious damage we were doing to our children and permitting them to enter into such a potential environment of mistreatment.

In July this year Sir Frank Peters in his article on corporal punishment in our schools he asked as to why loving parents, were permitting teachers to beat our children. Then he asked all the lawmakers to come forward to abolish it.

Sir Frank Peters asked parents if in their right minds would subject their "most cherished and loved possession to such inhumane cruelty?" Although both of us are educated, that made us stop, think hard and feel great shame for our lack of consideration towards the suffering of our children.

We cannot change the past, but we have now written to the headmasters and teachers of the schools our children attend telling them they must not beat our children and we've enclosed photocopies of the excellent report written by Sir Peters and various newspaper clippings of the findings of the High Court as references. We urge all parents not to waste time and to do the same.

Dr. Sorif Khan,
Chittagong.
Email: dr.sorif.khan@gmail.com.