KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS OF BIRATNAGAR SUB-METROPOLITAN CITY , MORANG , NEPAL

Introduc on School experience has remarkable effect on emo onal and personal development of children. Intended developments can be achieved through qualified educa on. It is quite a challenging fact that corporal punishment is s ll being used in the schools of Nepal as reported in the news papers and other literature. However, there is li le informa on about the knowledge and a tude of teachers towards corporal punishment. Objec ve To assess knowledge and a tude and to iden fy the associa on between the selected variables and knowledge and a tude towards corporal punishment among primary school teachers of Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City. Methodology Descrip ve cross sec onal study was conducted in Biratnagar Sub-metropolitan City, Nepal. A total of 160 primary school teachers were included using total enumera on sampling technique. Data were collected by using selfadministered, semi-structured ques onnaire and Likert Scale. Wri en consent was taken from each par cipant and ethical approval was taken from Ins tu onal Review Board of B.P Koirala Ins tute of Health Sciences. Sta s cal analysis was done using SPSS. Results All respondents had heard about corporal punishment but most of them were not clear about the rules against corporal punishment in schools. The mean percentage score of knowledge was 58.81 ± 19.34 and for a tude 56.30 ± 6.98. There was a posi ve correla on (r=0.455, p <0.001) between knowledge and a tude towards corporal punishment. Majority of respondents scored less than the mean score. Females and government school teachers' knowledge and a tude were found to be more posi ve. Conclusion The study revealed that the teaching experience, training regarding corporal punishment and childhood experience of corporal punishment were significantly associated with teachers' knowledge and a tude. The government should begin public awareness campaigns to disseminate informa on on corporal punishment as violence through different media.


INTRODUCTION
Children are the most valuable asset for any society.The future of the country depends upon the present children.If the children do not develop in a proper way, the future of the country will be ruined.It is the responsibility of the parents, teachers and the society to bring up the children in 1 a construc ve way.
Childhood is a delicate, sensi ve and vulnerable period which requires considerate care and understanding.Ironically, this vital phase is overlooked in our society where most of the parents and teachers, by their very nature think that it is important to punish the children in order to tame their ac vi es and to guide them to right track.This is evident from the study done by Shrestha and Thakuri in 2004, which reported that 60% teachers believe students, 2 cannot be disciplined without punishment.
Nepal is among 113 countries who prohibit corporal punishment in schools.The Conven on on the Rights of the Child (CRC) demands that children be respected as human 3 beings with the right to dignity and physical integrity.
The problem is common both in developed and developing 4 countries.As per the Global ini a ve to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, 90 countries con nue to allow teachers to legally use corporal punishment and even in the countries where corporal punishment is legally banned, it is 5 o en poorly enforced.
Corporal punishment is being used as a tool of discipline in homes, schools, day care homes and in work places.There is no law that prevents corporal punishment from being used in the home and schools.The offences Against Children's Bill 2006 seeks to correct this gap.States are now enac ng laws to prevent corporal punishment in schools.Many research evidence leads to the conclusion that it is an ineffec ve method of discipline with injurious effect on the physical and mental health of those inflicted.But no systema c study of the phenomenon was a empted to document the knowledge and a tude of teachers towards its use.The main purpose of this study is to find out the knowledge and a tude towards corporal punishment among primary school teachers of Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City.

METHODOLOGY
This is a descrip ve cross-sec onal study carried out in the primary schools of Biratnagar Sub-metropolitan City from st th 1 October 2012 to 30 July, 2013.A list of government and private primary schools of Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City was obtained from the District Educa on Office, Morang.All the primary school teachers were enumerated who met the inclusion criteria.The total sample size was 160.Wri en consent was taken from each par cipant and ethical approval was taken from Ins tu onal Review Board of BP Koirala Ins tute of Health Sciences.

Data Collec on Tools and techniques
A self-prepared, semi-structured ques onnaire and Likert Scale was used to assess the knowledge and a tude towards corporal punishment respec vely a er reviewing various literatures and consul ng the subject experts.
Ques onnaire related to knowledge on different aspects of corporal punishment, consis ng 15 items where 10 items had scores to assess the knowledge and rests were descrip ve types of ques ons.Five point Likert scale; having 10 items, consis ng of four posi vely and six nega vely phrased items were used to assess the a tude of respondents regarding corporal punishment.For that, a revised Valicer A tude towards Violence Scale (VATVAS) and Likert Scale developed by Simiyu Chris ne N. were modified and adopted.The tools were modified with consulta on of three subject experts.Responses were reported on a five point con nuum from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree".Respondents indicated the degree of their agreement or disagreement with each statement on a five point Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree).
The total possible score range of 10 -50.The individual scores were added up to form an overall a tude score for each respondent.The degrees of strongly agree and agree were summated to yield the net agreement while the degree of disagree and strongly disagree were summated to yield the net disagreement for the sake of determining their frequency distribu on.Higher score indica ng a higher knowledge and posi ve a tude towards corporal punishment.
The ques ons were developed ini ally in English language then translated into Nepali and reverse transla on was done with consul ng language experts.Ethical principles were considered and followed throughout the study to protect the right of the par cipants.

RESULTS
The respondents were found in the ra o of one male teacher to three females (40:120).Significant percentage (40.6%) of the respondents was less than 30 years.More than half (61.9%) of respondents were from upper caste groups.Majori es (85.0%) of respondents were Hindus, married (77.5%) and had children (92.7%) with less than and equals to two children (80.9%).Significant percentage (46.3%) of respondents had completed intermediate level of educa on.Fi y percent of respondents' family income lies between Rs. 10,001-20,000/month.Majori es (70.0%) of respondents were exposed to corporal punishment in childhood.Among them 66.2% had experienced canning as corporal punishment during their school life.(Table 1) More than half (53.8%) of respondents were from government school.Most of the respondents (66.9%) had teaching experience less than 10 years.Majori es of respondents (86.9%) had not received training regarding corporal punishment.Teachers who taught ≤ 5 class per day were (60.0%) with 55.0% of them were involved in extra ac vi es.Among them, more than half (62.5%) of respondents took tui on during extra me and 55.7% were engaged in extra ac vi es 2-4 hours/day.Nepali was 22.5%, Mathema cs 21.9%, English 18.8% teachers.
Not comple ng homework (60.0%) was the common reasons to corporally punished students in schools.Ear pulling (63.1%) was the most prevalent corporal punishment in school followed by bea ng (58.8%).Knelling down (48.8%) and majority (70.6%) of respondents stated that boys are mostly ge ng corporal punishment than girls (fig.1).All of the respondents had heard about corporal punishment in school through different media.Among them, significant percentage (31.9%) of respondents received informa on from their colleagues followed by newspaper (22.5%),T.V (19.4%).More than half (58.1%) of the respondents did not know what may be the physical effects of corporal punishment while 41.9% of respondents were aware of it.On ques oning those who were aware about the effects of corporal punishment, 52.3% of respondents stated that injury to the affected site followed by fracture of extremi es (40.0%), handicapped (38.4%) and ear burst (9.2%) are the major effects.Majority (75.0%) of the respondents were unaware about the effects of corporal punishment on mental health of children while 21.9% were aware and equal number of the respondents stated that depression, fearfulness (28.6%), suicide (22.8%) and mental illness (20.0%) are the major effects.Similarly, more than half (68.1%) of the respondents did not know the effects of the corporal punishment on the child's growth and developments.
Majority (68.8%) of the respondents stated that training to teachers regarding corporal punishment was the best op on to end corporal punishment from the schools while 53.8% men oned that parents must be involved in reforming students.(Table 2) Shrestha M et al

Mul ple responses
Vast majori es (90.0%) of respondents were aware about the rules against corporal punishment but on ques oning about the rules, majori es (79.9%) of respondents reported that they didn't know.Most (93.1%) of respondents agreed that corporal punishment should be banned in schools but for that almost all respondents (98.8%) felt need of training.When respondents were asked whether "Corporal punishment is good for discipline" the majority (53.1%) agree with the statement while (41.9%) disagree with it.When the respondents were asked whether "corporal punishment makes pupils to higher marks", more than half (54.4%) of the respondents said it does while (33.7%) said it does not.When the respondents were subjected to the statement "corporal punishment makes pupils work hard", the more (40.0%)agreed while (31.2%) disagreed.
On the statement whether corporal punishment creates feeling of anger and revenge in children, the majority (61.2%) of the teachers tended to disagree.On the statement "Corporal punishment is the only language children understand", most (45.0%) of the respondents agreed while disagreed (26.3%) and 28.8% respondents were unsure.On the statement "spare the rod spoils the child", more than half (56.9%) of the respondents showed agreement with this statement.On the ques on of whether corporal punishment is violence against children, most ( %) of the respondents disagreed that it was.46.9 When the respondents were subjected to the statement, "Punishing a child physically when she/he deserves it will  make him/her a responsible and mature adult" majority (56.9%) of respondents agreed while 27.5% disagreed with the statement.On the statement aboli on of all forms of corporal punishment from school can be a good idea the majority (44.4%) of respondents disagreed with this idea while (34.4%) agreed.(Table 3) The study revealed that training and teaching experience was significantly associated with knowledge and a tude.The result suggests that knowledge of the respondents had significantly increased with training and teaching experience.
Working area and involvement in extra ac vi es were associated to a tude but not with knowledge.Nega ve a tudes towards corporal punishment were more among private school teachers than that of government.Posi ve a tude was more among the teachers who were involved in music as extra ac vi es than sports, business and tui on.
Remaining work related variables were not significantly associated with knowledge and a tude.(Table 5) Shrestha M et al The study concluded that there was posi ve rela onship (r=0.455),(p=< 0.001) between knowledge and a tude towards corporal punishment.This means when knowledge increased; there is increment in posi ve a tude towards corporal punishment and vice versa.(Table 6) *Pearson's correla on is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

DISCUSSION
Although there are many child health worker in Nepal, very li le survey exist in this context, tes monies as well as reported incidences in the media, suggest that corporal punishment is a common problem in many schools.This study was conducted to assess the exis ng knowledge and a tude regarding corporal punishment among primary school teachers.A semi-structured ques onnaire to assess knowledge and five point Likert scale to assess a tude towards corporal punishment were used.
This study revealed that majority (70 %) of the respondents had experience of corporal punishment during their childhood.The result was consistent with the study of the

Table 6 : Rela onship between Knowledge and A tude towards Corporal Punishment n=160
Child Protec on Alliance (CPA)-Gambia which reported that 97 % of the respondents were beaten when they were 6 students.Most (66.2%) of the respondents had experienced canning, followed by ear pulling (13.2%), knelling down (12.5%), while 7.9% had done up-down with tugging ears as corporal punishment during their school life.Similar result was found by the study of Gagne M.H et.al which stated 66.4% of respondents experienced 7 canning during their childhood.
Study was found significant difference (p=0.045) between gender and knowledge but did not find significant d i ffe re n c e w i t h a t u d e ( p = 0 . 1 0 5 ) .T h i s re s u l t demonstrates that the gender factors affects the teachers' knowledge as well as mean score of a tude was more in female as compared to males but not significantly different.
The results was consistent with the study result of Basci Z.
8 and Dilekmen M. It might be due to female teachers tends to be more inclined to their role as teachers rather than their gender role of being female.
There was significant difference between age and teaching experience of respondents with a tude towards corporal punishment (p= 0.030).According to this finding, there were more posi ve a tudes towards corporal punishment among more than 40 years age group than that of lower age group.Similarly, more posi ve a tude found among those respondents who had teaching experience more than 20 years as compared to less than 10 years.Similar results stated in the study of Basci Z. and Dilekmen M. This may be because of the age and experience gives maturity in 8 behavior.
There was significant difference in level of educa on of the respondents with knowledge (p=0.002)but not with a tude (p=0.192)towards corporal punishment.The result suggests that knowledge regarding corporal punishment increased with increasing level of educa on but a tude does not change significantly.This finding was supported by the study of Enrique G. and Herrero J. which stated that the respondents with higher educa on level were posi ve a tude towards corporal punishment; where as those with lower educa on appear to hold 9 tradi onal views and more nega ve a tude.
There was significant difference between teachers' a tudes towards corporal punishment and working area (p=0.002) as well as knowledge was more among government school teachers (mean 60.12 ± 19.00) than that of private (mean ± SD; 57.30 ± 19.74) but sta s cally not significant.The finding suggests that the government school teachers' had more posi ve a tude towards corporal punishment than the private schools.The result was consistent with the study result of UNICEF and CVICT, which reported that private schools' teachers' a tude was more nega ve and inflicts more severe physical punishment because such schools have greater social 10 pres ge and stricter reputa on in the community.
There was significant difference between training received with knowledge and a tude towards corporal punishment.

CONCLUSION
This study revealed that knowledge and a tude towards corporal punishment was higher in females and those who received training with more teaching experience.So, teachers must be trained to increase knowledge and posi ve a tude towards corporal punishment.The popula on of experienced teachers can be increased by decreasing turnover rate of teachers through the governmental level.Similarly, the policy of government regarding recruitment of female teachers in primary level should be further promoted.
Those who experienced corporal punishment in childhood had a lower level of knowledge and nega ve a tude towards corporal punishment.The result supported an inter-genera onal cycle of punishment.When teachers use CP it teaches their students that hi ng is an acceptable means of dealing with conflict.
From the findings, it can be seen that the a tude of teachers towards corporal punishment is s ll poor.They s ll believe that it improves a child's own self-discipline and it is culturally right to hit children.There is a need to draw the a en on of the stakeholders for the developing the strong act against corporal punishment.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Teacher's training in disciplinary ma er including posi ve reinforcement for appropriate behavior should be encouraged and made compulsory to all schools teachers.There is a need, for the government to ini ate public awareness campaigns to disseminate informa on on corporal punishment as violence and a violent method of socializing children.The Ministry of Educa on should have a clear policy against preven on and elimina on of corporal punishment from schools.Provision of female teachers in primary school seems to be further promoted.Regular school based awareness program about corporal punishment and its consequences on health of children was seen mandatory.For this purpose, health ins tu on can work together with the school authority.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Since the study was conducted in urban, Biratnagar submetropolitan city, the findings cannot be generalized for all.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Types of Corporal Punishment

Table 1 : Socio-Demographic Characteris cs of Respondents n = 160 Mean age ± SD : 34.32 ± 10.35Table 3 : A tude towards Corporal Punishment n=160 The
mean percentage score of knowledge was 58.81±19.34andfora tude 56.30±6.98.It was found that there was significant associa on of knowledge with gender (p=0.045),educa on (p=0.002),familyincome(p=0.003),training,teachingexperience and experience of corporal punishment during childhood.Similarly, there was significant associa on of a tude with age (p=0.030),workingarea(p=0.002)training(p=0.001),teachingexperience(p=0.032),involvement in extra ac vi es and experience of corporal punishment (0.006) in childhood.(Table4)Shrestha M al a b Independent sample t test, One Way ANOVA

Table 5 : Mean Percentage Score of Knowledge and A tude toward Corporal Punishment in Rela on to Work Related Characteris cs of Respondents n=160
The result was consistent with the study result of Schmidt T. C. which reported in-service educa on program significantly increased the knowledge and percep on of teachers 11 towards corporal punishment.Training help the teachers to increase knowledge and improve their classroom organiza on, management skills, and teaching styles.
14a tude.In contradictory to this finding Simiyu C.N. reported that the teachers had a nega ve a tude towards 15 the corporal punishment despite their knowledge.