Transcript
The bill to amend the Education Act is currently before parliament's social committee.
It aims to reinstate the use of so called reasonable force to discipline high school students.
Samoa banned the use of corporal punishment in 2013.
Justice Vui Clarence Nelson says he's at a loss to why the Ministry of Education is pushing the bill.
"Nobody seems to understand the reason behind the pursuit of this amendment to the Education Act. It is something perhaps you might wish to get an official comment from the Ministry of Education upon."
The ministry has not responded to email and telephone requests.
Vui speculates the amendment could be to combat fighting at school and between schools which exploded into all out brawls in 2016.
The Associate Minister of Labour and Tourism at the time calling to lift the ban on corporal punishment.
However Vui says fighting in schools is a perennial problem and not limited to Samoa.
"I grew up in a time where corporal punishment was freely practiced in schools by teachers. It didn't solve it then. I have no idea why they would think that corporal punishment would solve it now especially in the light of all the new thinking, and the new research and the new wave of opinion."
Vui, who is also the vice-chairman of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, says there are other ways to discipline and steer the behaviour of children and students.
Samoa's ombudsman agrees.
However Maiava Iulai Toma, who also heads Samoa's National Human Rights Institution, doesn't understand the motivation for the bill.
"It surprised this office because the violence between schools, the serious fights that occurred between schools, hadn't been happening since the difficult times in 2016. Meanwhile we still had occurrences, serious occurrences, of teachers abusing children at school so we were quite surprised by this amendment."
Maiava says preventing teachers from being charged with assault is likely the underlying motivation for the amendment.
It would allow teachers to use what is deemed 'reasonable force' to discipline students.
Justice Vui says teachers would then judge what is reasonable.
"The amendment actually reads, 'any teacher in a secondary school is justified in using reasonable force on a child attending the school that the teacher teaches in if the force used is used in a reasonable circumstance'. The way I read it is that the determination of whether the force is reasonable or not, is a matter for the teacher."
Vui says it would be very prone to abuse by the teacher.
He says it goes against a 2016 proclamation by the government to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child stating Samoa was moving to abolish corporal punishment in all settings.
The National Human Rights Institution head says it's a retrograde step that would put Samoa back in time.
"If children grown up thinking that violence is alright in the home, and reinforced in school, then it's not surprising that they grow up, become adults, and think violence is pretty okay in human relationships."
Maiava says Samoa is plagued with violence and he has called on the government not to act on this bill until reviewing a report into domestic violence in the country.
The report is the result of a year-long inquiry into domestic violence and abuse in Samoa and is due for release next Wednesday 12 September.
In a submission to parliament from the Human Rights office Maiava said the proposed change would empower those teachers who enjoy physically disciplining children.
