High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo believes that many times the courts are left to deal with child discipline issues due to the inability of some parents, schools, and religious bodies.

High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo believes that many times the courts are left to deal with child discipline issues due to the inability of some parents, schools, and religious bodies.

While asking a question during the session on children and the administration of justice at the Attorney General’s Conference, Justice Temo stated that during his time, they were brought up under a system that encouraged discipline at home and school.

He highlighted that in his 28 years in the judiciary, presiding over these cases, it comes back to how we discipline our children.

“I find that our Education Department have lost touch in how to discipline children, in my days if you commit a wrong in school you are wacked in school, corporal punishment and nowadays you can’t do that because if you wack anybody, teachers lose their jobs they have been before us prosecuted for assault, I think our education system hasn’t come up with a solution.”

Justice Temo further states that he believes in the old system of discipline.

He adds that politicians should also come up with a solution on how to resolve this critical issue.

Responding to the question, Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum says it’s not a political issue per se, but politicians and members of parliament make laws, and it also has to be done within the ambit of the Constitution.

He says the Constitution also has provisions with respect to the rights of the child.

Sayed-Khaiyum also states that times have changed compared to 20 years ago as technology has brought in Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

“And this is why we’re having this session. So hopefully we from this can also start thinking yourselves as practitioners as to what we can do, in respect of ensuring that we have access to justice, ensuring that the procedures and the members of judiciary are here to that they themselves can start thinking about how perhaps they can retrain members of judiciary, introducing new methodologies in respect of how to deal with victims and those who in fact are perpetrators in the old children thinking.”

Around 400 participants are attending the two-day conference.