The executive secretary for KUPPET, Vihiga Branch, Charles Otiende, has called for a revision of acts and laws governing punishment in schools to allow teachers freedom to administer justified punishment to students.
Otiende said stakeholders are involved in deliberate discipline in schools without putting too much focus on corporal punishment.
He stated that teachers should be given freedom to decide on the right punishment to administer to their students because their frequent day-to-day interactions with the students enable them to know which punishment is more suitable.
“The Basic Education Acts, the Children’s rights and data protection has criminalized some of the methods that teachers would use to administer punishment, leaving the teachers with no freedom to administer rightly deserved punishment,” noted Otiende.
On the recent schools’ unrest, Otiende stated, “Lack of capitation has been identified as one of the reasons for the witnessed unrest in schools and I therefore urge the government to release capitation to schools for heads to be able to buy food and other necessities required in the schools,” urged Otiende.
He further asked parents to make sure that they pay tuition fees to schools upon reopening to cater for damages caused.
By Yvonne Misango and Maureen Imbayi
