I grew up and went to school in an era that did allow the authorities to beat a student if the parents gave them permission. Thankfully, my parent's refused this and wouldn't allow the school to touch us. However, when I left France to go to America to school this wasn't possible. They no longer were allowed to hit a child in school.
Years ago in Tahiti, the teachers were allowed to hit students in the class. However, the parent's here on the islands rebelled over this behavior and called it unjust. That a professional that was hired to teach their children shouldn't be allowed to hit a child in the classroom. Furthermore, they were no longer allowed to send the student to the head of the school where he was allowed to hit the child.
Now on the islands, this no longer exists and if a student is punished they are expelled from school for a few days. I feel this is the right way to do this. When in France I never saw one student being hit by the teacher and also in America this didn't exist either.
When my daughter grew up and went to school they were not allowed to touch the children in the school. If a teacher ever hit my child I would press charges against them. This is not the way to teach a child in school.