Corporal punishment was banned in state schools in the UK
on 22 July 1986 when MP`s voted in the House of Commons for total
abolition by 231 votes to 230.
This was brought about by persistance from small anti
corporal punishment pressure groups and several cases taken to
the European Court of Human rights which awarded damages to
school pupils who had received corporal punishment.
But in the years since the ban many opinion polls have
shown that parents and the general public believe that discipline
in schools has got increasingly worse and are in favour of
bringing back corporal punishment.
There has been the occasional call from back bench MP`s
for a return to corporal punishment but it was in 1996 that the
issue was really back in the headlines when Secretary of State
for Education, Gillian Shepherd, expressed her support for
bringing back the cane in schools. Prime Minister John Major said
he was against it but eventually agreed to a free vote in the
House of Commons but told his cabinet members and MP`s to back
him. That was enough to defeat the return of the cane but about
100 MP`s went against the PM and voted in favour of bringing it
back.
While the debate went on amongst the politicians the
newspapers were conducting their own polls and the support for
bringing back the cane was overwhelming.
In The Mirror, October 31st 1996, 5253 took part in the
poll, 5038 voted yes to bringing back the cane and only 215 said
no. (Enter
for newspaper article)
In The Sun, November 1st 1996, 4932 people took part in
the poll, 3851 voted yes to bringing back the cane and only 81
said no.
In The Sunday Express, November 3rd 1996, 720 people were
asked their opinions on various aspects of corporal punishment in
schools, 68% said they favoured the return of the cane, 81% of
those who were caned at school said it done them no harm. (Enter for
newspaper article)
In the Times, January 7th 2000, 1000 parents took part in
a poll and 51% of them favoured a return to corporal punishment
in schools.
But despite all the public backing for the return of
corporal punishment in schools Ministers know that if they made
moves to bring it back they`d get a severe Six of the Best from
the European Court of Human Rights.
