Child caning rampant, says Unicef
What you need to know:
- Punishment at St Charles Lwanga Ichuni Girls in Kisii was front-page news last week with students allegedly whipped and locked up in filthy cells with only two meals a day have been making the headlines.
- While the government has constantly warned teachers against physical and sexual violence on children, the Unicef report reveals that this has largely been ignored.
Kenya is among 39 countries in the world where cruelty to children is widespread in schools.
A new United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report groups the country with China, Italy, the Philippines, Thailand and Columbia, among others.
This, despite the fact that Kenya abolished corporal punishment in school and at home in 2001.
“Reported use of both mild and severe punishment was highest in Kenya, where almost all children received a mild form of physical discipline while nearly two thirds were subjected to severe corporal punishment,” says the report.
The Hidden in Plain Sight report found that teachers were the most commonly reported perpetrators of violence among children in four sub-Saharan African countries of Ghana (34 per cent), Kenya (47 per cent), Uganda (58 per cent) and Tanzania (39 per cent).
Data collected from 2005 to mid-2014 shows that corporal punishment is rife in Kenya.
KISII
Punishment at St Charles Lwanga Ichuni Girls in Kisii was front-page news last week with students allegedly whipped and locked up in filthy cells with only two meals a day have been making the headlines.
While the government has constantly warned teachers against physical and sexual violence on children, the Unicef report reveals that this has largely been ignored.
In the research in 190 countries across the world, parents were interviewed on the use of corporal punishment on children between seven and 10.
They were asked whether they had spanked, hit or slapped a child with their bare hand or with an object in the past month.
Ministry of Education Quality Assurance Director Mwinyi Pembe said corporal punishment was against the law.
“The policy is very clear. Principals and headteachers are the first quality assurance officials and should ensure that rules are followed to the letter,” he said, adding that parents who encouraged teachers to punish children also broke the law.
The report says more than half of Kenyan men aged 18 to 24 had been “punched, kicked, whipped or beaten with an object” before turning 18 by a parent or other adult relative (57 per cent) or an authority (58 per cent).
At least one billion children across the world regularly undergo corporal punishment.
