Corporal punishment is not a solution to the rising cases of school unrests and should not be re-introduced, Kisii County Director of Education Mr Richard Chepkawai has said.
Speaking in his office while meeting some education stakeholders on Monday, Chepkawai said that using force when disciplining students only triggered emotions with some tending to be more rebellious.
Instead the official called for guidance and counseling to be offered to students terming the initiative more effective in dealing with students involved with indiscipline than corporal punishment.
“We cannot punish students like in the olden days since today’s generation believes in modernisation. Encouraging students through talks makes more sense to them than using a cane and other heavy punishments. Suspending students should also depend on the magnitude of the act,” he said.
At the same time, he accused parents of abdicating their role of disciplining their children to teachers which he said contributed to the rising cases of school unrests.
“Habits copied from home such as fights by parents, offensive arguments, and drunkenness among others makes children aggressive and in variance with the teachers when they try to discipline them,” he added.
The country has in the recent past suffered a wave of unrests in schools which has seen more than 20 schools burnt down and property worth millions of shillings subsequently destroyed.