UK
Public show their backing for school caning
Corporal punishment was banned in state schools in the UK
on 22nd July 1986 when MP`s voted in the House of Commons for
total abolition by 231 votes to 230.
This was brought about by persistance from small anti
corporal punishment pressure groups and several cases taken to
the European Court of Human rights which awarded damages to
school pupils who had received corporal punishment.
But in the years since the ban many opinion polls have
shown that parents and the general public believe that discipline
in schools has got increasingly worse and are in favour of
bringing back corporal punishment.
There has been the occasional call from back bench MP`s
for a return to corporal punishment but it was in 1996 that the
issue was really back in the headlines when Secretary of State
for Education, Gillian Shepherd, expressed her support for
bringing back the cane in schools. Prime Minister John Major said
he was against it but eventually agreed to a free vote in the
House of Commons but told his cabinet members and MP`s to back
him. That was enough to defeat the return of the cane but about
100 MP`s went against the PM and voted in favour of bringing it
back.
While the debate went on among the politicians the
newspapers and tv were conducting their own polls and the support
for bringing back the cane was overwhelming.
In late October 1996 breakfast show
GMTV ran a poll on corporal punishment in schools, 30.000 people
took part, and 97% said bring back the cane.
In The Mirror, October 31st 1996, 5253 took part in the
poll, 5038 voted yes to bringing back the cane and only 215 said
no. (Enter
for newspaper article)
In The Sun, November 1st 1996, 4932 people took part in
the poll, 3851 voted yes to bringing back the cane and only 81
said no.
In The Sunday Express, November 3rd 1996, 720 people were
asked their opinions on various aspects of corporal punishment in
schools, 68% said they favoured the return of the cane, 81% of
those who were caned at school said it done them no harm. (Enter for
newspaper article)
In The Sunday People, November 3rd 1996, a telephone poll
of 506 parents of children aged five to 16 showed that 67%
supported the return of corporal punishment.
In the Sunday Mail, November 3rd 1996, a Mori poll found
more than 600 of 1,002 adults questioned favoured the return of
the cane.
And more recent polls show the majority of people still
in favour of a return to corporal punishment in schools.
In the Times, January 7th 2000, 1000 parents took part in
a poll and 51% of them favoured a return to corporal punishment
in schools.
On the breakfast TV show GMTV, November 2001, 61% of the
participants in an opinion poll favoured teachers having the
right to administer corporal punishment to unruly pupils.
On a Teletext poll, February 2002, of the 6334 people
that took part, 97% said they were in favour of a return to
corporal punishment.
On a telephone poll run during the TV talk show Richard
& Judy in April 2002, which was described as having "a
massive response", 91% said they favoured the return of
corporal punishment in schools, with only 9% against.
But despite all the public backing for the return of
corporal punishment in schools Ministers know that if they made
moves to bring it back they`d get a severe Six of the Best from
the European Court of Human Rights.