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The Nation (Nairobi)
August 4, 2008
News Article By Stephen Munyiri and Miki Mwaniki
The Cabinet has approved the re-introduction of caning in schools, Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi has announced.
The cane would be brought back due to the escalating cases of unrest in schools, he said. Mr Murungi attributed the current unrest in schools to what he called “too much democracy”, which degenerated into chaos
“We met as Cabinet last week and what we observed is that there is too much democracy that is quickly descending into anarchy. There is too much freedom in this country and what we are witnessing in schools is just a reflection of the larger society,” he said.
Re-introduction
The minister was addressing a gathering at Karatina Stadium in Nyeri North District on Sunday during a schools prize giving ceremony.
Mr Murungi said the Government felt the problem needed to be addressed by instilling more discipline in schools and one of the ways was to re-introduce caning.
A children’s organisation has, however, opposed calls for the re-introduction of caning.
The Children’s Legal Action Network (Clan) executive director Tom Chavangi Sunday said he was appalled by calls by some leaders for the re-introduction of corporal punishment in schools.
“Although Clan condemns the mode students have chosen to air their grievances, the organisation is, however, strongly opposed to giving teachers a chance to abuse students through the re-introduction of caning,” said Mr Chavangi.
But Mr Murungi said: “The Cabinet has decided and teachers should listen to this: Let us not have child kings and queens in our schools, you spare the rod and spoil the child.
“If a child does something wrong, he or she must be caned. As a Government we have said discipline has to be enforced in our schools.”
Mr Murungi said another cause of indiscipline in schools could be the “mass action” culture, which he said had been introduced in the country by some politicians.
“This mass action thing is a dangerous culture that we have introduced in this country, that when you want your grievances addressed you must demand it by some force, now it has taken root in our schools,” he said.
Parliament banned caning in schools through the Children’s Act, which came into force in 2001.
The recent wave of school unrest has led to calls for the ban to be reversed, resulting in a debate over the issue.
