Caning in Singapore - School Caning

School Caning

Caning is also used as a form of corporal punishment in primary and, especially, secondary schools, and rarely in one or two post-secondary colleges, to maintain strict discipline in school. This is applicable only to male students; it is illegal to cane girls. The punishment is administered formally along traditional British lines, typically in the form of a predetermined number of vigorous cuts across the seat of the student's trousers as he bends over a desk or chair.

The Ministry of Education encourages schools to punish boys by caning for serious offences such as fighting, smoking, cheating, gangsterism, vandalism, defiance and truancy. Students may also be caned for repeated cases of more minor offences, such as being late repeatedly in a term. The punishment may be administered only by the Principal or Vice-Principal, or by a specially designated and trained Discipline Master. At most schools, caning comes after detention but before suspension in the hierarchy of penalties. Some schools use a demerit points system, whereby students receive a mandatory caning after accumulating a certain number of demerit points for a wide range of offences.

Under government regulations, the punishment should not exceed a maximum of six strokes, and can only be administered on the palm of the hand or on the buttocks over clothing, using a light rattan cane of about four feet long. The majority of the canings range from one to three very hard strokes, applied to the seat of the boy's trousers or shorts. Canings on the hand are rarely implemented, but one notable exception is Saint Andrew's Secondary School, where students may be caned on the palm for less serious offences.

Canings in schools may be classified as:

• Private caning (this is the most frequent kind): The student is caned in the school office, in the presence of the Principal/Vice-Principal and another member of the staff.
• Class caning: The student is caned in front of his class.
• Public caning: The student is caned in front of an assembly of the whole school population, to serve as a warning to potential offenders as well as to shame the student. This punishment is usually reserved for serious offences like fighting, smoking or vandalism.
• Others: There can be intermediate levels between a "class caning" and a "public caning". Some schools give these special names, such as "a cohort caning" (in front of all classes of the offending pupil's year) and "a consortium caning" (in front of all the lower secondary, or all the upper secondary, or certain streams of classes within certain year levels).

School caning is a solemn and formal ceremony. Before the caning, the Principal/Discipline Master usually explains the student's offence to the audience. Next, a protective item (a book or a file) is tucked into the boy's trouser waistband to protect the lower back from strokes that land off-target. He is directed to bend over a table or a chair, with his buttocks pushed slightly up and back. In this position, the boy is caned across the seat of his trousers or shorts according to the number of strokes prescribed. He normally experiences superficial bruises and weals for some days after the punishment.

Certain schools have special practices for caning, such as making the student change into physical education (PE) attire (because PE shorts are apparently thinner than the uniform trousers/shorts) for the punishment. Some schools require the student to read out a public apology before receiving his strokes.

Boys of any age from 6 to 19 may be caned, but the majority of canings are of secondary school students aged 14–16 inclusive. The Ministry of Education recommends that the student receive counselling before and/or after his caning.

Routine school canings are naturally not normally publicised, so cases only get reported in the press in rare special cases.