A news report from Ghana on 15 June:

Some pupils in Accra have called on government to ban corporal punishment as a means of instilling discipline in children. They pointed out that corporal punishment only made especially not-too-brilliant students to drop out of school because they feared when they failed an examination, they would be severely caned. The pupils made the call in a debate jointly organised by management s of Plan Ghana and Actionaid, both international NGOs to mark this year’s International Day of the African Child in Accra on Tuesday.

Those who spoke for the motion described corporal punishment as the most ineffective way of disciplining a child… In addition, it led others especially girls whose performance were below average to give in to advances of men teachers and engaged in amorous relationship to avoid being punished.

A slightly different version of the story I reported here yesterday, taken from Arab News on 23 June:

The summary court in Hail on Tuesday sentenced 11 young men and four young Saudi women to imprisonment and lashes after they were found guilty of spending the night together. The young men were sentenced to serve one to two years in prison while two women were sentenced to one year each in prison and the remaining two to 80 lashes.

Criminal intelligence officers arrested the young men and women with the support of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Informed sources told Arab News that the commission got information an Arab man had rented a house in Hail for parties and had invited the four women to the function. “All arrangements had been completed for the party and they had brought liquor. But the intervention of commission officials turned their plans upside down,” said one source. “Although the culprits tried to run away from the site, security officers were able to track them down,” the source added.

From the Herald Sun in Australia yesterday:

Judicial officials say a Saudi court has convicted four women and 11 men for mingling at a party and sentenced them to flogging and prison terms.

The men, who are between 30 and 40 years old, and three of the women, who are under the age of 30, were sentenced to an unspecified number of lashes and one or two year prison terms each.

The fourth woman, a minor, was sentenced to 80 lashes and was not sent to prison.

The ruling was handed down overnight at a court in the northern town of Ha’il. The officials say the police saw the group partying until dawn last month. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media. Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam that prohibits unrelated men and women from mingling.

No fewer than 22 young women who’ve attended Kennett High in MO are signed up to the Facebook  page to confess that “I Got A Paddling At School”. Here are a couple of extracts from the school’s policy manual which discuss the disciplinary regime there in more detail:

STUDENT DISCIPLINE

It is essential that the district maintain a classroom environment that allows teachers to communicate effectively with all students in the class and allows all students in the class to learn. To assist district staff in maintaining the necessary classroom environment, the Board of Education has created a discipline code that addresses the consequences, including suspension or expulsion, for students whose conduct is prejudicial to good order and discipline in the schools or impairs the morale or good conduct of other students…

These policies, regulations and procedures will apply to all students in attendance in district instructional and support programs as well as at school-sponsored activities. All district staff are required to enforce these policies, regulations and procedures in a manner that is fair and developmentally appropriate and that considers the student and the individual circumstances involved. Off-campus misconduct that adversely affects the educational climate will also be subject to these policies, regulations and procedures…

A copy of the district’s comprehensive discipline policy will be provided to every student and parent or guardian of every student at the beginning of each school year and will be available in the superintendent’s office during normal business hours.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

Corporal punishment, as a disciplinary measure, is permitted at all grade levels for correction, maintaining discipline and order, protection of property and/or for providing for the health, safety and general welfare of students, staff members, parents and patrons. If utilized, it should be used in accordance with student discipline policy JG-R, and administered only by a certificated staff member. Corporal punishment should not be utilized in the presence of other students, nor without a witness who is a certificated staff member.

Corporal punishment shall be administered only by swatting the buttocks with a paddle in a reasonable manner. The respective certificated staff member who administered the corporal punishment shall submit to the building principal a copy of the student misconduct report which reflects information regarding the student’s misconduct and applicable information regarding the administration of the corporal punishment. The building principal shall forward a copy of the report to the superintendent.

From Shobhaa Dee, an Indian blogger, on 13 June:

Reading the account and watching the television clips revived long buried memories of being frequently caned myself as a school girl. This was the punishment reserved for students who were considered ‘rebellious’ and ‘disobedient’. Of course , I was both… and worse.

But to be so severely punished for those ‘failings’ by the ogre of a school principal – a towering woman representing a Scottish mission ? I often went home with swollen , angry red welts… that made me feel so ashamed, I hid them from my parents

[I can now] retell and relive those hellish minutes when I’d be summoned to the Principal’s office after standing on the yellow bench for hours, often without food or water… The old era of adopting the so-called traditional ‘cane and able’ modus operandi to make errant kids toe the line are over…

From the Qatar courts, reported in Gulf Times on 9 June:

An Indonesian housemaid has been sentenced to 100 lashes following her conviction of maintaining illicit relations with her sponsor’s friend who had left the country for good before the matter came to the fore.

The 41-year-old Egyptian lover, who was tried in absentia, was sentenced to a year imprisonment and a technical subsequent deportation. A Doha court of first instance heard that the affair came to the light when the maid was admitted to the hospital for a health problem and was found to be five months pregnant in September 2009.

The maid told the police that she had allowed a friend of her sponsor access to the house “once” in May 2009. According to court documents, the woman (24) confessed to illicit relations in the court as well.