TUI Wainunu Ratu Orisi Baleitavea has called for the reinstatement of corporal punishment.
In his submission to the Constitution Commission at Naikavaki Secondary School in Bua on Monday, he said the vanua of Bua had agreed to recommend as part of their submission to reintroduce this form of disciplining children.
He said children of today had become more daring in villages because they had taken advantage of their rights. "There is a need to send out reassurances to people back in our homes that it is not wrong to discipline their own children," Ratu Orisi said.
"Parents are scared to discipline their own children given the example of other parents who have done so and have ended up at the Vaturekuka prison in Labasa," he said.
"There continues to be more disobedient children in our villages as a result of these rights," he said.
He said there was a need to bring back corporal punishment in schools and villages to instil an order of discipline in children.