Thanks to Imam family

Your popular Letters to the Editor column permits me to thank Mrs. Ferdous Imam and family for the kind words, gratitude, and thanks they expressed towards me yesterday (31.12.2014).
It is most encouraging and pleasing to read that change is taking place in Bangladesh schools and that many families are now benefiting from the anti- corporal punishment campaign, although regrettably this is yet to be enough. Bangladesh needs to aim for zero
tolerance.
The education system of any country is the foundation on which the nation is built. While corporal punishment and its many off-shoots (terrorism, violence, fear, hatred, disrespect, resentment and vengeance, to name a few) are part of the curriculum taught in the classrooms, the nation is being built on a foundation of quicksand, that's guaranteed to
crumble.
Just look out of the window at the deplorable behaviour, violence, and aggression synonymous with hartals. Not an ounce of democracy or common decency is in sight.
Did those traits come in their mother's milk or did they learn it in the schools where violence was openly displayed by authoritative figures whom they trusted to be leading them on the right path, consciously and sub-consciously?
In this age of enlightenment, it should be clear to all that corporal punishment is not only ineffective, but harmful - the Formalin of the education system and the cancer of Bangladesh society.
It is always sad to learn that children are traumatized so much by corporal punishment that they subconsciously wet the bed, but it's a common response to the hellish feelings they harbour. Allergies, rashes, and headaches are among the other ailments they experience.
Thank you Mrs. Imam, for the kind words you expressed. For 2015, I wish you and your family, and all school-going children throughout Bangladesh, the fulfilment of their birth right - a corporal punishment-free existence.
 
Sir Frank Peters
Gulshan, Dhaka