The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The reaction to the Shaba Higher Secondary School case is deeply troubling. Instead of questioning how a teacher allegedly struck a 16-year-old child 22 times with a rubber pipe, sections of social media supported it. Some argue nostalgia-driven populism: that corporal punishment made past generations respectful and successful, and today’s youth simply need to be “taught a lesson.”
A teacher does not acquire the right to assault a child because they misbehaved, and a society does not become disciplined by normalizing fear. At Shaba, students suffered strikes resulting in severe bruising that made basic daily functions painful, alongside continuing emotional distress.
The argument that “a little beating never hurt anyone” is scientifically false. The World Health Organization’s 2025 report concludes that corporal punishment has no benefits and carries multiple risks of harm, linking it to physical and mental ill-health, impaired cognitive development, poorer educational outcomes, and increased aggression. The damage is physiological, as physical punishment triggers severe stress responses and alters brain structure and function, increasing anxiety, depression, and emotional instability.
Furthermore, a major 2025 systematic review covering 189 studies across 92 low- and middle-income countries, environments close to Bhutan’s context, found physical punishment consistently associated with behavioral problems and impaired social-emotional development. When someone claims, “I was beaten and I turned out fine,” that is an anecdote, not evidence.
Bhutan’s Ministry of Education and Skills Development has rightly rejected calls to reintroduce corporal punishment, favoring dialogue, understanding, and positive discipline.
The goal is not to make teachers powerless. Children need boundaries, teachers need authority, and schools need consequences. But discipline and violence are not the same thing. If a teacher requires a rubber pipe to command obedience, it is not the child who has failed at discipline; it is the adult.
We must stop romanticizing the violence of our past. Bhutan cannot build a compassionate society while teaching children that the powerful have the right to hurt the powerless. Our children do not need tougher adults, they need better ones.
There is a strong association between corporal punishment and children’s aggression, their mental health, and their anti-social behaviour — Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children