Pradeep Chandana Gunarathne.
There has been an ongoing discussion about the new draft Penal Code (Amendment) Act and its provisions to protect children from corporal punishment and establish the age of consent. The amendment is a much-needed development in the country, as the existing Penal Code was enacted in 1883, with minor amendments made later.
As mentioned, the new Act aims to establish and strengthen laws to protect children. Sri Lanka has some of the highest rates of sexual abuse, and in fact, rape remains the most frequently reported crime in Sri Lanka, according to the Colombo Gazette.
WHO estimates that around 1.2 billion children worldwide, aged 0–18, face corporal punishment at home each year. In some nations, nearly all students report being physically disciplined by school staff. The likelihood of experiencing such punishment is similar for boys and girls and children from both affluent and low-income families; Sri Lanka reflects this trend.
Studies and findings
The 2025 study, published in the Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, surveyed 370 parents of primary schoolchildren. Key findings include 54.9% having recently used CP; 50.7% doing so weekly; 32.4% believing CP is necessary in parenting; 25.7% supporting its use in schools; 85.4% aware of CP’s harms, especially aggression and broken parent-child relationships; 61.8% learning CP from their own parents, indicating deep intergenerational roots; and 93% practising at least one positive discipline strategy, such as active listening or rewards. Despite high awareness, CP persists, often triggered by disobedience, stubbornness, or refusal to do schoolwork.
Therefore, corporal punishment is regarded as a violation of children’s rights to respect for physical integrity, human dignity, health, development, education, and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
Evidence indicates that corporal punishment damages children’s physical and mental health, fosters behavioural issues over time, and offers no positive effects. Even mild or light forms of punishment pose a risk of escalation. Research suggests that parents who use corporal punishment are more likely to commit severe abuse. Globally and across cultures, corporal punishment is associated with adverse outcomes, including health problems, cognitive and socio-emotional delays, poor educational performance, increased aggression, and violence perpetration.
Therefore, corporal punishment is regarded as a violation of children’s rights to respect for physical integrity, human dignity, health, development, education, and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
The elimination of violence against children is emphasised in several targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, most notably in Target 16.2: “end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children”.
The Education Ministry’s circular and sexuality education
The Education Ministry has issued a circular banning corporal punishment at schools as a preventative measure. Section 4 of Circular No. 12/2016 bans corporal punishment at the school level and recommends a list of positive discipline measures to maintain children’s discipline. The new amendment aimed to strengthen existing regulations and provide legal protection for children against corporal punishment.
The Parliamentary debate raised another major concern about the legal Age of Consent. According to the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka, the age of consent in Sri Lanka is 16 years old, which was introduced by the Penal Code amendment in 1995.
The age of consent is the minimum age at which an individual is considered legally old enough to consent to participation in sexual activity. Individuals aged 15 or younger in Sri Lanka are not legally able to consent to sexual activity, and such activity may lead to prosecution for statutory rape or the equivalent local law. Sri Lanka’s statutory rape law is violated when a man has consensual sexual intercourse with a girl under age 16. As learned, it remains the same in the new amendment.
The question is whether adolescents aged 16 are adequately educated or informed to make decisions about consent. Sex education has remained a taboo subject in the country for a long time. Although several attempts have been made since the late 90s, most were unsuccessful due to protests, primarily led by the clergy. Even some Parliamentary initiatives were not implemented because of these protests, which claimed that governments were trying to promote Western ideas of sexual freedom, such as homosexuality and sexual relationships outside marriage.
It also highlighted that such information is not readily accessible for out-of-school adolescents, and nearly 50% of young people are unaware of basic sexual and reproductive health issues.
The Youth Health Survey (2012), conducted by the Ministry of Health, UNFPA, and UNICEF, revealed gaps in schools’ provision of sexual and reproductive health information to students, with only 59% of respondents stating they received reproductive health education at school.
It also highlighted that such information is not readily accessible for out-of-school adolescents, and nearly 50% of young people are unaware of basic sexual and reproductive health issues. According to the Demographic and Health Survey (2016), 35% of currently married women do not utilise any modern contraceptive methods. Furthermore, in 2000, it was estimated that over 650 unsafe abortions occur daily in Sri Lanka despite legal restrictions, with more than 80% accessed by married women over the age of 30.2. These findings clearly emphasise the need to ensure that Comprehensive Sexuality Education is effectively delivered to adolescents and young people both in and out of school.
Contrary to what opponents of sexuality education often claim, CSE is not solely about sex. When delivered effectively, it promotes health and well-being, respect for human rights and gender equality, and empowers children and young people to lead safe and productive lives. Importantly, it teaches that all forms of gender-based violence are wrong and constitute a violation of human rights.
Young people not only learn how to recognise and avoid all forms of gender-based violence, but also how to prevent it, avoid perpetrating it, and where to seek help. They also acquire essential life skills such as empathy, negotiation, decision-making, and critical thinking, encouraging them to question social and cultural norms that uphold unequal gender and power structures and often lead to violence.
Pradeep Chandana Gunarathne is an Occupational Therapist/ Lecturer at Department of Disability Studies of Faculty of Medicine – University of Kelaniya