Representatives from 31 parent groups yesterday criticized proposed changes to the Civil Code that would limit parents’ rights to punish children, saying it would harm their ability to educate them.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday last week approved an amendment to Article 1085 of the Civil Code stipulating that parents “must not engage in violent behaviors that harm mental and physical health.”
The article currently states that “parents may, within the limit of necessity, inflict punishment upon their children.”
The amendment process has not considered parents’ opinions and the change would weaken families’ ability to educate their children, the representatives said at a news conference, adding that the government should instead seek to invest in positive disciplining resources.
The boundaries between discipline and guidance have already been clarified and policies already protect children from violence, National Alliance of Parents Organization chairman Hsiao Tung-yuan (蕭東原) said.
“Discipline is not violence,” he said, adding that Article 1085 is an important cornerstone for parents to fulfill their responsibilities.
Education within the family should be the priority and not left up to schools, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said.
The government does not understand the viewpoint of most parents, as 70 percent of online poll respondents said they are opposed to the change, Lo said, adding that he would do the utmost to defend the parents’ stance if the bill is reviewed.
There are no parent representatives on the Executive Yuan’s team, Action Alliance on Basic Education chairman Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽) said.
The alliance’s online poll showed 70.4 percent of parents oppose the amendment and 89.5 percent of parents called for more resources in family education, Wang added.
The annual budget for family education is only NT$300 million (US$9.25 million), less than 0.1 percent of the total government budget, demonstrating how parents’ needs have been ignored, Wang said.
Current laws already distinguish between reasonable discipline and abusive behavior, he added.
Instead of the amendment, the government should mandate eight hours of parental leave a year for parents to participate in school activities and programs, increase funding for family educational centers and refer to international guidelines on how to prevent abuse, Hsiao said.
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