ISLAMABAD (APP) - The trend of corporal punishment in the schools by untrained and tactless teachers make students lose interest in studies, besides forcing them to remain absent from schools in ceratin instances. It is heartbreaking for the parents when their children drop out of schools and lose a lifetime opportunity to get a start they deserve for a decent life. Strict behaviour of teachers is an issue of concern for the students who are even good at their studies as sometimes they are not safe from mental and physical abuse. A student who is beaten up becomes scared, loses confidence and sometimes simply refuses to go to school to avoid punishment. Teachers slap and use sticks, which is quite painful and insulting to the students. According to Islamabad-based NGO, Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), 35,000 high school students in Pakistan drop out of the education system each year due to corporal punishment. Beatings at schools are responsible for one of the highest dropout rates in the world, which stands at 50 percent during the first five years of education, according to SPARC. Qindeel Shujaat, Executive Director of SPARC said this culturally accepted form of child abuse also contributed to the high dropout rate among children. The ban was imposed by the provincial governments on corporal punishment at schools, and the laws exist but a proper mechanism to implement them is yet awaited, he said. He hoped that Child Protection Bill, to be finalized soon, would also help extend protection to the child rights in the country. According to the study conducted by an NGO, 'Plan Pakistan in Punjab, the practice of corporal punishment is at 89 percent in the areas researched and contrary to popular belief, it prevails both in rural and urban settings. Ramrajya Joshi, the Program Support Manager of Plan Pakistan informed that the organization has launched an advocacy campaign in 66 countries on corporal punishment, abuse, neglect, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, violence, youth gangs, use of weapons and harassment on the way to and from school. In 2005, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with 'Save the Children and the government, conducted the first in-depth survey to determine how many children were subjected to corporal punishment. All 3,582 children interviewed said they had been beaten at school, with seven percent saying they had suffered serious injury as a consequence. There is now more realization about the adverse effects of corporal punishment, but many teachers still believe that some form of physical punishment is unavoidable to instruct children, said an education expert. Teachers with this mindset say they need to make students obedient and serious in their studies, so beating is inevitable, he said.