The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has reiterated that it will not defend teachers found guilty of administering corporal punishment to students as a means of enforcing discipline.
The union Secretary General Collins Oyuu warned teachers that such punishment was illegal and could cause injury to students in addition to disrupting their learning.
“Teachers involved in caning students will be left to carry their own cross, KNUT will not come to their defense and we have made all our members aware of the illegality of caning learners,” he said.
Speaking during an interview at a local radio station on Monday, Mr. Oyuu urged teachers to instead abide by disciplinary guidelines laid down by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
“There are guidelines of how students exhibiting indiscipline issues should be punished and caning is not part of them,” clarified the KNUT boss.
Administering strokes of the cane against students, Oyuu said, had at times been found to be excessive and injurious to the victims leading to its prohibition by the government.
“There is no way a teacher can administer 16 strokes of the cane under the excuse that the student erred. What type of indiscipline could warrant such type of punishment?” he posed.
Parents’ organizations and children rights lobbies have in the recent past demanded complete eradication of corporal punishment in schools in the wake of incidents where learners have been injured severely by teachers during corporal punishment.
The lobbies called for special training programs to educate teachers on how to deal with disciplinary issues with guidance and counseling being emphasized.
The National Parents Association Chairman Silas Obuhata called for inclusion of discipline skills in teachers’ training curriculum to ensure that professionalism was involved in administration of discipline to learners.
By Robert Nyagah
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