The horrific fire at Utumishi girls school in Nakuru left the nation traumatised. This was followed by a series of identical fires across many boarding secondary schools leading to temporary closures. While investigations into circumstances that led to the tragedy at Utumishi are ongoing, several leaders have proposed reintroduction of corporal punishment. I disagree.
Corporal punishment was banned in Kenyan schools in 2001 and was later outlawed in all settings and for all persons in the Constitution 2010. The reason justification was due to widespread cases of serious student injuries including fatalities.
Outright abuses were inherent in the caning model. These abuses included collective punishment, excessive caning, punishment out of malice and for minor offenses.
The most inhumane reason for corporal punishment was connected to poor exam performance. In the latter there were cases when students would be caned for every question failed. This often led to an atmosphere of terror where some learners could even succumb to enuresis out of fear.
The modern world guided by scientific evidence has moved on from corporal punishment. The World Health Organization opposes this based on the harm caused. While the physical dangers are obvious, the psychological harm is often hidden but long lasting.
Physical abuse in the name of corporal punishment can hamper brain development, cause post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and school refusal. The child’s ability to learn is impaired and the scars may follow them into adulthood. Children who are physically abused through caning are conditioned to use violence as adults.
The Kenya Psychiatric Association (KPA) in a 2022 paper, takes a position against any form of punishment related to academic performance. KPA says intellectual capacity of students varies based on many factors including genetic, psychological and environmental. A student with a learning disability in Mathematics or reading will not improve through physical torture.
The association proposes use of rewards to motivate students to perform better. KPA disapproves corporal punishment in its entirety.
Psychiatrists propose use of alternatives to corporal punishment that should be proportionate to mistakes committed. The association further recommends mental health assessment for students who show repeated cases of indiscipline.
Many factors may be responsible for unrest in our schools. These factors include poor living conditions, inadequate food and overcrowding.
The number of students in our high schools has doubled and, in some cases, tripled in the last 20 years. Even in the best-case scenario where teacher to student ratio is favourable and all other conditions are addressed; these overpopulated schools are unmanageable.
The strategy to avert future cases of indiscipline should include the building of new schools to ease the pressure on management. The standards articulated in our educational policies need to be upheld. It is also important to equip teachers with skills to address social psychological challenges among students. Scrapping boarding schools in one fell swoop is simplistic, impractical and escapist.
The phenomenon of group think needs special attention. When a human being finds themselves in a group – as often happens among high school students – they lose their personal identity, are forced to conform and the outcome may be violence directed towards a group identified as the enemy.
In a landmark experiment, Solomon Asch demonstrated that 75 percent of adult humans would make an incorrect decision when faced with the pressure to conform to a group. The results of this experiment partly explain the reasons behind the holocaust, terrorism, shakahola massacre and school fires.
Teens, grappling with questions of identity face an even higher risk of social influence which may be propagated through the media when coverage may unwittingly confer heroic status on culprits.
As the country reflects on the recent anarchy in our schools, the temptation to embrace solutions straight from the gut must be avoided. Scientific evidence should form the foundation for interventions.
The current evidence condemns corporal punishment in favour of school mental health programmes as they will equip our young people with requisite skills needed to grow into happy and responsible citizens.
Dr Boniface Chitayi is a consultant Psychiatrist and chairman Department of Psychiatry and mental health, Kenyatta University.
