Return caning to rein in rogue students, Gem MP says

Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo has called for the return of corporal punishment for students in order to rein on the current indiscipline and unrest being witnessed in various schools across the country.

Mr Odhiambo said that it is the high time that the Children’s Act enacted in 2001, which outlawed corporal punishment in Kenyan schools, is repealed in order to give teachers better control over their students.

“We must repeal the Children’s Act to ensure that discipline can get back to where it was before. Other than engaging our students, it is important to have a more effective way or system of disciplining the students,” said Mr Odhiambo on Friday.

UNDISCIPLINED

He argued that the ban on caning in schools has made students become so undisciplined to the point that they do not follow rules as they know the power to discipline has been taken away from the teachers, leaving them mere spectators.

“If a student does something bad they must be caned. People were caned before. I am an advocate of giving teachers the power to discipline. Let us get back corporal punishment. Let us as a society stop treating our kids like eggs and ensure that we have values that they must grow up knowing,” he said.

GOOD CONDUCT

Mr Odhiambo has also called on the government to ensure that stringent measures are put in place before one obtains a certificate of good conduct so that people with criminal records do not get it.

He argued that only indicating such criminal acts on the Form Four leaving certificate does not help anything or act as a deterrent but since the students are being arraigned in court, getting a certificate of good conduct will not be easy for them.

“What we need is to get a more robust certificate of good conduct system to ensure that those who have criminal records do not get the certificate. Form Four leaving certificate never helps in getting any job. What will help is the certificate of good conduct,” he said.

TRANSFERS

But the first-time lawmaker has differed with nominated MP Wilson Sossion over the recent transfers of teachers saying that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Ministry of Education must be allowed to do their work.

“Transferring teachers is ensuring that we become a nation that fosters unity among the citizens. We do not want to see Luos only working in Luoland [or] Kikuyus in Kikuyuland. The transfers are important as they bring people from different communities together to interact and know what happens in other [areas],” he said.

He, nevertheless, implored on the Ministry of Education to ensure that they get to the root cause of the current problem of burning schools in order to know the instigators of the whole mess by collaborating with the security agents in the country.

“We need to identify who is this transporting petrol to students in schools; is it a motorbike rider, if not, who sent the person?” posed Mr Odhiambo.