A study on the impact of the ban of corporal punishment on discipline of students in public secondary schools in Kikuyu Division, Kiambu District

Abstract

Corporal punishment has been used as a discipline management procedure in Kenya since the inception of formal education by the colonialists and is currently one of the most ranging and controversial issues in education in the world today. At the World Conference on Education for All in Dakar in 2000, Kenya was cited as having institutionalised violence and promoted child abuse by including corporal punishment in its statutes. In a gazette notice dated March 13, 200 L the then Minister in charge of Education, Kalonzo Musyoka, scrapped the sections of the law that permitted corporal punishment. The notice was intended to clarify any doubt about the nature of punishment to be meted out on delinquent students. Corporal punishment had been blatantly abused by some teachers, leading to serious injuries and sometimes-even death of pupils. This happened despite the fact that the Education Act (prior to the amendment) clearly spelt out appropriate guidelines on the administration of the cane. The emphasis was on moderation, caution ancl record keeping for instances in which it was applied.

Despite the fact that the Minister outlawed corporal punishment, he did not spell out the alternatives to caning. In recent years, indiscipline among students has taken the form of outright violence where students have clobbered their teachers to death, set their colleagues on fire and damaged property worth colossal amounts of money.

This is in addition to abuse of alcohol, drugs and other harmful substances. The main objective of this study was to determine the impact of the ban of corporal punishment on discipline of students in public secondary schools in Kikuyu Division, Kiambu District. Literature was reviewed on the causes of indiscipline, nature of indiscipline, corporal punishment, disciplinary procedures and, discipline management procedures. At the end of the literature reviewed a conceptual framework was designed. The study was an ex-post facto design and the target population comprised of headteachers and at least three teachers in all the public secondary schools in Kikuyu Division, Kiambu District. The research instruments that were used included two questionnaires; one for the headteacher and the other for the teachers. Punishment records were also analysed.

Data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to: determine if there has been an increase or decrease in the cases of indiscipline of students, find out the impact of the ban of corporal punishment on discipline of students; find out the current disciplinary problems of students; find out the alternative disciplinary methods used to solve the disciplinary problems and, to find out if there is a relationship between the category of the school, size of the school, academic qualification of the teachers, experience of the teachers and discipline of the students in Kikuyu Division, Kiambu District.

The findings of the study were in many ways concordant with the findings of other researchers. No significant relationship was established between the category of the school and the discipline of students. There was also a weak correlation between the size of the school and the discipline of students. Among the discipline problems experienced, disobedience was ranked highest, followed by fighting and bullying. Lateness and stealing were the least experienced discipline problems. Manual work was the most preferred discipline management procedure followed by Guidance and Counseling.

However, a section of the teachers argue that despite the fact that corporal punishment is offensive and violent, there are cases where canning is the ultimate solution to indiscipline. No significant relationship was established between the teaching experience of the teachers and discipline of students. The findings also found no significant relationship between the teachers' academic qualification and discipline of students.

The researcher advocated for the establishment of strong Guidance and Counseling programmes, referrals to professional Counselors, involvement of the students, BOG and PTA in formulating explicit school rules and regulations and, ensuring good staff relations within the school environment.