Impact of Corporal Punishment on Students’ Academic Performance at Elementary Schools level

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the impact of corporal punishment (CP) on the academic performance of students at elementary schools in tehsil Kharian, district Gujjrat. In this research, the researcher tried to find whether there is any variation in the performance of students who were punished by their teachers or who treated alternative of corporal punishment by their teachers. It was descriptive research based on survey design. Data was attained from 125 teachers and 457 students who were randomly selected by using questionnaire. The collected data was arranged and coded. The coded data was analyzed by using SPSS software. The results showed that academic performance of the students is affected by the corporal punishment. Those students who were punished by their teachers performed “average” in exams and the teachers who used alternatives rather than punishment, majority of their students performed “very good  in final exams. It was also found that male teachers of rural areas punished more their students than the female teachers of others.  Moreover, result shows that teachers use corporal punishment to improve the academic performance of lazy students and students with disruptive behaviors. They also punish the students to maintain discipline in classroom to create conducive environment for effective teaching and learning.