Speaking to FMT, they said there were many ways to handle problematic students.
Universiti Sains Malaysia associate professor P Sundramoorthy said teachers must not resort to violence against students unless they are under attack.
“Teachers can only use a reasonable amount of physical force in self-defence,” he told FMT, referring to a teacher charged in a Magistrate’s Court in Seremban with slapping a student.
Azizan Manap, 44, was accused of assaulting the student, 11, over a disciplinary issue.
The boy was alleged to be involved in glue-sniffing, bullying, assaulting other students and playing truant at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Semarak, Nilai.
Azizan was charged with voluntarily causing hurt in an incident on April 6, an offence which carries a jail sentence of up to a year, a RM2,000 fine or both.
On Monday, the charges against him were dropped and he was given an acquittal not amounting to a discharge.
Scores of teachers turned up to give moral support to the teacher.
Sundramoorthy said he was not in favour of any form of corporal punishment.
“Even for caning, the teacher needs approval from the principal.
“This is not the way to educate students in a civil democratic society. Instilling fear is certainly not the right way.
“Of course, it is frustrating for the teachers to be unable to handle unruly students, but we cannot simply use corporal punishment as it is not the solution.
“When you have ugly incidents like this, you need to provide proper guidance and counselling.
“That is why we need trained counsellors in school. It shows that we care and are willing to guide the students.
“We need to identify problematic children and seek out the positive traits in them.”
He added that the present generation of children did not take kindly to teachers who tried to use physical force on them.
Criminologist and psychologist Geshina Ayu Mat Saat said there were at least four reasons for punishment – retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation and incapacitation.
“We need to identify which category the action taken by the teacher falls into, and whether the slapping was due to anger or purely to educate the pupil.”
She said the impact of the action taken by the teacher would be felt in the short term and long term, depending on the sense of justice.
She said consideration must be given to whether the child felt the punishment was justified, whether the parents of the child felt the punishment was appropriate, social support, and the child’s own resilience.
Meanwhile, UPSI counselling unit chief Fauziah Mohd Saad said what was allegedly done by the teacher should be forgiven.
“It should be excused if the intention was to teach the kid what is right and wrong and if it was to prevent him from any wrongdoing,” she said.
Fauziah said it was dangerous if the student really was involved in glue sniffing as this had been proven to cause brain damage.
She said bullying, smoking and playing truant were also bad, adding that the student could influence others to indulge in such bad habits as well.
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