The Kenyan Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has called on the reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools in response to recent cases of countrywide indiscipline from the students.
He noted that, although the reintroduction of corporal punishment may be deemed atavistic, it would help in settling cases where students were running riot and overpowering their teachers. He cited the recent spike in school arson and attacks on teachers, lamenting that society was going to the dogs and something needed to be done to address the problem.
Support of corporal punishment
Magoha added that he knew he appeared old school but corporal punishment, though radical was the only method that could rein in the schools and stop the violence. He continued by assuring everyone that the reintroduction of such measures could bring sanity to the schools, saying that it can reduce significantly the number of indiscipline cases that are being reported in learning centers.
The Education CS also urged parents to ‘rein in their children’ from home to avoid cases of indiscipline from happening in schools. He said that parents had gone soft, and unlike during his time, modern parents had neglected their role of punishing and correcting their children.
He pointed a recent case where a parent went to court to stop the school from suspending their child as a form of discipline, indicating that such parents were spoiling their children. He noted that keeping the cane down had resulted in the decay of morals in school.
He also blamed the parents for allocating minimal time to their children and noted that modern parents were using schools as dumping grounds for their children. He added that this had created problems within the school system, where teachers have had an influx of undisciplined students that they need to deal with.
Western approach to punishment in the Kenyan education system was also brought forward by the CS, who lamented that it had softened children and parents and created pathways for children to be errant and continued making a case on why corporal punishment should make a come back in schools.
Magoha also recommended banning students from burned schools from reentry to other schools. He also said that a database needed to be created that should blacklist students who have had issues with the system.
