We were discussing the situation decades ago, not just the last few years.
Probably not – but you’re confusing two different things here. What you seem to be describing are schools where the cane was never used, or was used extremely rarely
No, I’m describing schools where the cane was used quite frequently, supposedly as a “standard” punishment for the type of offences I described. In reality though, it wasn’t the usual punishment for those offences because half the offenders were the “wrong” sex.
Most offences in my school are far more often punished by methods other than the cane. The cane is only used in a minority of cases. That doesn’t mean it’s not used often enough to constitute being used as a punishment.