Corporal Punishment in Bhutanese Schools

Corporal punishment in Bhutanese schools — the physical punishment of students by teachers — has been officially prohibited in Bhutan since the late 2000s, but has remained a persistent practice and a recurring subject of national controversy. The gap between policy and classroom reality came to a head in 2026, when a teacher who beat two students with a rubber pipe was charged with child battery, the injuries suffered by the children were aired publicly, and the Education Ministry pledged a new Student Behaviour Policy.^[1]

Bhutanese classrooms historically operated within a tradition of strict discipline, and physical punishment was long treated as an ordinary tool of correction. Its formal prohibition is relatively recent, its legal basis is layered rather than absolute, and surveys have found that a large majority of schoolchildren still report experiencing physical violence from teachers.^[3]

Legal and Policy Framework

Three instruments govern the practice. A resolution of the 11th Annual Education Conference in 2008 directed schools to enforce a ban on corporal punishment, and the Ministry of Education followed with school discipline guidance in 2011 promoting non-violent, "positive discipline" approaches. The Child Care and Protection Act of 2011 prohibits "harsh or degrading correction or punishment" of children, though child-rights monitors note that the Act stops short of an explicit statutory ban on all corporal punishment.^[3] Successive governments have nonetheless treated the ban as settled policy; prime ministers and education ministers have repeatedly stated that corporal punishment is not permitted in schools.^[4]

Underneath these administrative measures, however, the criminal law still supplies a defence. The Penal Code of Bhutan (2004) justifies the use of force by a parent, guardian or person "in charge of a minor" for the purpose of discipline (sections 109–112), and it is this provision — rather than any explicit authorisation in education policy — that keeps corporal punishment lawful in practice. In its 2024 Concluding Observations on Bhutan, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child stated that it "remains deeply concerned that corporal punishment is legally and socially acceptable" in the country, and urged Bhutan to repeal the relevant Penal Code provisions and to prohibit corporal punishment explicitly in all settings, including schools, monastic schools and nunneries.^[3][6]

Prevalence

Reported practice has lagged well behind policy. A national study cited in the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children's country report found that 75 per cent of children attending day schools reported experiencing physical violence from a teacher at least once, alongside 22 per cent of boarding students; researchers also found confusion among teachers and local officials about what the law actually prohibits.^[3] Violence in the home is more widespread still: the 2023 National Health Survey found that around 82 per cent of children aged 1 to 14 had been subjected to some form of violent discipline in the previous month, and about 60 per cent to physical punishment.^[7] Bhutanese media have documented the practice's persistence and its physical and psychological effects on students.^[5]

The 2026 Shaba Case

On 15 July 2026, a Grade X economics teacher at Shaba Higher Secondary School in Paro allegedly struck students who had scored below a 55-mark benchmark he had set. Two 16-year-old girls received 22 and 19 blows respectively with a rubber pipe, leaving bruising and welts; one parent told The Bhutanese that "for three days, she could neither eat properly nor sleep". Police charged the teacher with child battery on 26 July and forwarded the case to the Paro dzongkhag court. The school's management drew further criticism for defending the teacher and attributing the injuries to the students' "fragile" skin. The two students were relocated to another school.^[1]

A separate incident at Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School in Thimphu that drew national attention in mid-2026 involved student-on-student violence rather than corporal punishment by a teacher; the Ministry of Education and Skills Development said its outcome "will be determined by the relevant law enforcement and judicial authorities", and the two matters are distinct.^[2]

Earlier Cases

The Shaba case was not isolated. In 2023, a teacher at Lamoidzingkha Middle Secondary School in Dagana was convicted of child battery under section 215 of the Child Care and Protection Act after beating fourteen Class II students with a stick, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment, commutable to a monetary penalty.^[8] Nearly a decade earlier, in 2014, the principal of Drujeygang Higher Secondary School in Dagana was sentenced to three months and ordered to pay compensation after slapping a boy so hard that the student suffered a ruptured eardrum; the principal paid the penalty in lieu of prison and was reinstated at the same school.^[9]

Policy Response

The 2026 cases prompted calls from some parents and commentators to formally reintroduce corporal punishment as a disciplinary tool — calls the Education Minister, Lyonpo Yeezang De Thapa, rejected, reaffirming what she described as a zero-tolerance policy in favour of dialogue and positive discipline. The ministry announced that it was developing a Student Behaviour Policy 2026, intended to strengthen anti-bullying measures and give schools a clear, lawful framework for managing student discipline.^[2]

Newspaper commentary ran strongly against the practice. A widely read Kuensel opinion piece by a Bhutanese writer recalled being beaten on the head as a schoolchild in the 1990s until the bamboo stick broke — and observed that in that era "no photograph was uploaded within hours, no newspaper called, no social media post travelled across the country", so such beatings passed in silence — before arguing that "there comes a point where discipline ends and violence begins".^[10] Editorials in The Bhutanese likewise warned against, as one put it, turning violence into discipline.^[11]

References

1. "Shaba HSS students allegedly struck 22 and 19 times with rubber pipe face physical and emotional challenges." The Bhutanese, August 2026.
2. "Ministry says Lungtenzampa case outcome rests with police, judiciary." The Bhutanese, August 2026.
3. "Bhutan — country report." Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children.
4. "Corporal punishment is not allowed: PM." The Bhutanese.
5. "Bhutanese schools grapple with corporal punishment and its multiple impacts on children." The Bhutanese.
6. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, "Concluding observations on the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Bhutan" (CRC/C/BTN/CO/6-7), 2024.
7. National Health Survey 2023, cited in National Commission for Women and Children, Women and Children Division Annual Report 2024–25.
8. "Court sentences teacher to three months." Kuensel, 10 June 2023.
9. "Dagana Dzongkhag Court sentences Drujeygang's Principal." Bhutan Broadcasting Service, 19 November 2014.
10. Ngawang Phuntsho, "When discipline leaves a mark." Kuensel (Opinion), 19 August 2026.
11. "Do not turn violence into discipline." The Bhutanese, 15 August 2026.