Corpun file 26413 at www.corpun.com
Daily Nation, Nairobi, 4 July 2016
Karaba calls for reintroduction of caning in schools to fight rampant indiscipline
Mr Karaba is a former school principal and is reputed with bringing discipline and sanity in the institutions he headed.
By George Munene
A student rummages through the charred remains of the contents of his box after a morning dorm fire at Naikuru Secondary School in Kisii on June 29, 2016. Senate Education Committee chairman Daniel Karaba has said corporal punishment should be reintroduced in schools in order to contain the rampant indiscipline. FILE PHOTO | AGGREY OMBOKI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The chairman of the Senate Parliamentary Committee on Education, Daniel Karaba, has said corporal punishment should be reintroduced in schools in order to contain the rampant indiscipline currently being witnessed.
The sentiments by the Kirinyaga senator come following a wave of unrest that has hit secondary schools across the country with devastating effects.
According to Mr Karaba, caning, if reintroduced, would end strikes which are causing damage to school property.
Mr Karaba has previously worked as a school principal and is reputed with bringing discipline and sanity in the institutions he headed.
He was also at one time the chairman of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KSSHA).
Speaking to journalists on Sunday after a fundraiser in aid of Mukangu PCEA church in Kirinyaga County, Mr Karaba said students were burning dormitories and destroying other school property due to indiscipline.
Curb strikes
"Discipline should be instilled in students to curb the strikes which are disrupting normal learning," he said.
He recalled that when corporal punishment used to be meted out on students, peace prevailed in learning institutions.
"During our time we never destroyed or misbehaved because the teachers never spared the rod," he said.
Mr Karaba said his committee was concerned over the rising cases of unrest in schools.
"In fact we are taking the matter very seriously and what the students are doing should be stopped," he said.
He also said students who were burning dormitories should be treated as criminals and arrested for prosecution.
Mr Karaba said the Senate Education Committee was planning to summon the Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to discuss learning matters.
The senator said the committee wants the CS to explain what the ministry was doing to restore sanity in schools.
Corpun file 26425 at www.corpun.com
People Daily, Nairobi, 21 July 2016, p.4
Caning in schools on way back
House Education committee explores ways of reintroducing corporal punishment
By Seth Onyango, Victor Raballa and Kennedy Kariuki
Errant pupils and students will be caned if a bill contemplated by members of a parliamentary committee is enacted. The National Assembly Education Committee will explore ways of reintroducing corporal punishment in schools to stem runaway indiscipline among students.
Committee chairperson Sabina Chege said punishing students would help instill a high sense of discipline in schools from the basic level. Chege said the committee is set to meet to discuss proposals in order to come up with a bill that would not only return caning in schools, but also introduce other disciplinary measures to control unrest. She said the Bill would comprehensively deal with cases of students implicated in destruction of property, unlike in the present circumstances where they easily get away with arson.
"Corporal punishment is one of the ways we in the committee feel that could help address this issue of unrest in schools. As things stand now, we feel the mechanism used by school administrators to deal with disciplinary issues is not deterrent enough," said Chege.
The call to reintroduce corporal punishment is bound to stoke heated debate, with parents and teachers largely for it but learners and human rights groups expected to oppose it. Past reports on school unrest have shown that discipline was better during the days of corporal punishment compared to now when students are let off with a pat on the back.
Chege, who is Murang'a Women's Representative, made the disclosure to return corporal punishment on a day that the government formed a special investigations team to probe increasing cases of arson in schools as mystery surrounds the motive behind the crisis.
The eight-member team drawn from the ministries of Education and Interior will have 30 days to vigorously comb the affected schools and submit its report within 30 days. In a joint communiqué by Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i and his Interior and Coordination counterpart Joseph Nkaissery, they also appealed for community involvement in the protection of learners and property.
"The team should audit safety and security regulations and make recommendations on stricter measures to ensure high standards of discipline in schools," said their terms of reference in part.
The team, which comprises former Eastern Provincial Commissioner Claire Omolo, is also expected to review recommendations of past task forces on student unrest, review implementation status and propose methodology of effecting the balance of proposals.
Other members of the team include Lilian Muli, Patrick Mugo, Charles Khayira, James Kairu, Loise Nyasenda, Grace Mulei and F.C. Mugambi. In their final report, they are expected to come up with measures to be taken to forestall future cases of unrest and also name individuals to be held responsible for the school fires.
A policy brief by ActionAid Kenya indicated 67 per cent of public schools exercise a form of corporal punishment. ActionAid head of policy Phillip Kilonzo said majority of students interviewed said they were caned.
Elsewhere, Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru urged the Ministry of Education to make it mandatory to have all schools install security cameras to curb burning of dormitories. He was speaking at Ruthimitu Secondary in Dagoretti South, which was partly torched on Tuesday night.
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