Cabinet Secretary of education George Magoha admonishes severe corporal punishment after the arrest of two teachers who assaulted a class 8 pupil ,Bravin Ochindi ,because he could not attain 400 marks.He also called on The Teachers Service Commission to dismiss the teachers .
“It is totally against the law to apply any stick on a child as the law currently stands, my personal opinion notwithstanding. It is savage to cane a child like you are caning an animal,Anybody who did some teaching and pedagogy at any level should know that if the child has performed well and you want them to do better, caning will not improve, it will just inspire some rebellion from the child.”CS Magoha said.
He added that teacher should not inflict corporal punishment but instead ,call the parents to take them home.“You must not touch the child, call the parents of the child let them come and take the child home and we start from there,” he aadded.
The teachers Paul Ojogo and Maurice Otieno who have been arrested and are being held at Yala police station as they wait to be arraigned in court on Monday on assault charges.
Corporal punishment was banned in Kenya in 2001 when children’s Act was enacted.Experts behind its enactment argued that corporal punishment does not change the students behaviour but instead it creates resentment
