Yanuar Tri Wijaya, 14, still remembers clearly how much it hurt when his maths teacher struck him with a wooden ruler and pulled his sideburns because he forgot to do his homework.

He was just a fourth grader at the time and had never suffered such treatment from his parents or other teachers.

However, since then, Yanuar has always strived to do his homework on time, and has also battled to forget the trauma.

“I remember how embarrassed and sad I was at that time but because I’m a boy, I tried not to cry. I told my parents after school and they got angry about it,” said Yanuar. “I knew I was wrong, but I still couldn’t accept being punished like that.”

The eighth grader admitted that the incident had diminished his enthusiasm for maths.

Like Yanuar, fifth grader Rut Diandra Margaretta Hutahaean said that while her parents and teachers had the right to reprove her verbally, employing physical force as a punishment was “a big no-no”.

“I don’t feel comfortable with treatment like that. It would merely serve to enrage me, rather than make me feel guilty about my mistake,” said the student of state elementary school SDN Bendungan Hilir 12 in Central Jakarta. To date, fortunately, the 10-year-old has not been on the receiving end of corporal punishment.

Until recently, it was usual for Indonesia’s teachers and parents to discipline children through raised voices, pinches and even strokes of the belt; such measures were deemed acceptable and efficient.

Times have changed, however, and this year two teachers in Sidoarjo, East Java, and Bantaeng, South Sulawesi, have been taken into custody for pinching unruly students.

Regardless of the child’s mistakes, corporal punishment leads children to believe that problems can be addressed through shouting and violence, child psychologist Seto Mulyadi told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Welcoming Saturday’s National Children’s Day, which this year carries the theme of ending violence against children, Seto called on teachers and parents to be more aware of the 2002 Child Protection Law, which stipulates that all children must be protected from physical or mental threats.

Every child, Seto said, deserves such protection, including ill-behaved ones. “No child is naughty because of their nature. Rather, bad behavior is usually a result of how their parents or teachers discipline them.

“Parents or teachers should no longer punish their children by shouting at or hitting them. They must find other ways that do not involve actions that could traumatize their kids. They need to employ patience and creativity to that end,” he went on.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) records that as of March this year, violations of the Child Protection Law numbered 645. Meanwhile, last year, the country saw 4,309 cases — lower than 5,066 booked in 2014.

Separately, civil servant Reno Dwi Hapsari said she never used a raised voice or corporal punishment against her 4-year-old son.

“My parents never used force to discipline me. As such, I also refuse to use such methods,” Reno said. “I prefer to use a soft verbal approach with my boy. If I have to punish him, I deprive him of some of his rights, such as forbidding him from watching cartoons.”

Reno encouraged fellow parents and teachers to follow her example.

“Using violence only encourages children to use violence too to resolve their problems […] it causes both emotional and physical injuries,” said Reno.

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