§ 9. Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what figures are available to his Department for the number of schools in England and Wales where corporal punishment of pupils by other pupils is permitted; and if he will now withdraw recognition from schools where corporal punishment of pupil by pupil is permitted.
§ Mr. Edward ShortThe answer to the first part of the Question is "None", and I will consider the second part.
§ Mr. RobertsWould my right hon. Friend not agree, however, that, whatever one may think generally about corporal punishment, there are considerable dangers of violence in this form of it, which tends, therefore, to be overvalued as a means of solving problems? Perhaps a look at right hon. and hon. Gentlemen opposite would remind him of the dangers of some forms of public school education.
§ Mr. ShortAs I have said before, I am against all forms of corporal punishment. I think that the beating of one boy by another is a particularly repugnant form of it, and I hope that it will disappear from our schools very quickly.