Child maltreatment in Bangladesh: Poverty, social class, and the emotional abuse of elementary school children by teachers

Md. Hasan Reza, Nicole F. Bromfield, Shirin Sultana and Md. Mustafizur Rahman Khan

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 116, issue C

Abstract: Child maltreatment is a global problem, and child punishment, both physical and emotional, is a persistent phenomenon and major child rights issue in the global south, particularly in Bangladesh. Child abuse is any emotional, physical, or sexual mistreatment of a child that is perpetrated by an adult in a role of responsibility. Emotional abuse refers to a relationship between a child and a caregiver, which is a consistent pattern of harmful interactions with a child, other than physical or sexual abuse. In Bangladesh, the prevalence of emotional abuse within school settings is ostensibly widespread. However, there is little systematic research on the occurrence of emotional abuse within elementary schools in the nation. This article focuses on the incidence and predictors of emotional punishment, as well as students’ reactions to discipline among elementary school-going students in Bangladesh. A survey data set was used to explore 450 primary school children’s experiences of emotional abuse and responses to abuse within the school system in Bangladesh. Findings indicate that 88% of child participants were scolded during their current school year, and 82.7% were scolded during the previous school year. Teachers threatened about a quarter (24.9%) of the participants in their current school year. We found that poverty was a consistent factor for children receiving emotional punishment in schools. Ninety-two percent of poor children were subjected to emotional abuse in schools, and poor children were significantly more likely to suffer emotional abuse by teachers than non-poor children. The findings of this study highlight the need to conduct further studies of child maltreatment within schools in Bangladesh. In particular, a better understanding of the frequency and impact of emotional abuse within schools in Bangladesh will help to inform interventions at all levels of practice including, individual, family, group, community, and policy levels, as well inform teacher training and teacher education curricula in the country.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Elementary school; Emotional abuse; Poverty; Social class (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919308953
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:116:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919308953

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105195

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().