Beatings the norm for Bangladeshi children: UN

DHAKA : Nine out of 10 children in Bangladesh are physically beaten in school and seven out of 10 report similar experiences at home, according to a report released Thursday by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The report, which surveyed more than 3,800 children aged between nine and 18 across the impoverished country, found that the most common form of physical punishment in schools was with a cane or stick.

It found that 91 percent of those surveyed had been beaten in school, while 74 percent were physically punished at home.

Corporal punishment was used on 65 percent of working children, the report said.

"We wanted to know their experience and their views on corporal punishment," UNICEF representative in Bangladesh Carel de Rooy said.

"The findings show corporal punishment is widely used and accepted." Although the majority of children interviewed for the poll believed that corporal punishment was acceptable, it was a breach of children's rights under the international Convention of the Rights of the Child, he said.

"Violence used as a means of discipline can have devastating effects on the child and can never be justified," he said. Corporal punishment has been prohibited in Bangladeshi schools since 1995.

In 2005 a 12-year-old boy died after two beatings he received at school for not doing his homework and not paying attention in class.