Corporal punishment

Tongan student's hospitalisation prompts calls for more teacher training around corporal punishment

ABC reports teachers in Tongan schools are still using corporal punishment despite the practice being officially banned in 2014.

Last week a teacher used so much force on an 11-year-old boy, that he had to be treated in hospital.

Ofa Guttenbeil Likiliki, the director of the Tonga Women and Children's Centre, said the case highlighted the need to create awareness about alternative methods of discipline.

"Using alternative methods is something that is sorely lacking amongst the teaching profession here in Tonga," she told the ABC's Pacific Beat program.