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Corporal

punishment

TAIPEI: Taiwan's Education Ministry has decided to lift its ban on corporal punishment slightly to allow teachers to slap students' palms, an education official said Sunday.

Although the ministry had banned corporal punishment, many teachers still used it to discipline pupils, and in several cases students have been injured.

The decision was reached Saturday during discussion in which participants agreed that primary and secondary school teachers ought to be permitted to cause "temporary pain" to students who refuse to correct behavioral problems, the official said.

But the slaps must take place in the presence of other teachers , and with parental consent, he said.

After cabinet approval, the new measure would go into effect in the semester beginning in September, he added.-AFP