ISLAMABAD: In a major victory for child rights activists, a bill against the corporal punishment of children in Islamabad was passed on Tuesday in the National Assembly.The ICT Prohibition of.
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill to ban corporal punishment in educational institutions and seminaries in the capital and referred another bill seeking to make compulsory the teaching of Arabic language in educational institutions to the standing committee concerned.
The ICT Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill calls for banning all forms of corporal punishment in educational institutions, including formal, non-formal and seminaries, in both the public and private sectors as well as childcare institutions and rehabilitation centres.
Defining punishment, the bill stated: “Any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light it may be, which may involve hitting (smacking, slapping, spanking) a child with the hand or with an implement (a whip, stick, belt, shoe, wooden spoon, etc.”
Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Assembly has passed the ‘Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill’ that bans corporal punishment in all forms or shapes at educational institutions and seminaries of the capital.
The bill was moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member of the National Assembly Mehnaz Akbar Aziz and was supported by both the ruling and the opposition members of the house. The bill had been waiting approval of the National Assembly since 2019 after a standing committee passed it.
Then it was sent to another committee for deliberation. Recently, the main motivator of the bill, Founder of Zindgi Trust and children’s rights activist, Shehzad Roy, raised the issue on social media and even held a meeting with the Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser seeking his help in its speedy passage.
A gift to Pakistan s children, says Shehzad Roy on corporal punishment being banned in Islamabad - Celebrity dawn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dawn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.