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Kenya: Look Beyond Caning Pupils As Punishment

Published

4 years ago

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It seems unbelievable that caning in schools is back on the table as a topic for Kenyans to debate, but now that it is, it is important to understand where the issues with regard to student discipline begin.

Many Kenyans now aged above 18 were brought up in homes, and very likely went to schools where corporal punishment was used to discipline children, minors and students who had done wrong.

Corporal punishment was usually dispensed in a gendered manner, where teachers, unfortunately, exercised more freedom while dispensing it on boys and on girls who had personalities more associated with masculinity.

This followed the colonial stereotype that African children in general, and specifically stronger-bodied students, could take more pain. Many girls still did not escape beatings both at home and at school. The punishing stakeholder would use hands or even feet to dispense blows and kicks in order to cause pain. Others used things like wooden rulers, iron rods and sticks, or even the rubber whips commonly carried by guards as weapons.

Another method involved causing discomfort within the minor’s body. This could be achieved by making the minor kneel down with hands up, so that loss of blood flow to their arms, and the effort involved in keeping the hands up, would cause pain.

Other common punishments involved being left outside alone on scary nights, in intense cold or other unpleasant weather conditions, or allocation of massive portions of undesirable chores with poor tools, to augment their difficulty.