Why MPs are considering return of canning in schools

The cane could make a comeback in schools, with the National Assembly Committee on Education hinting at the removal of the legal provisions outlawing corporal punishment amid growing concerns over student indiscipline and attacks on teachers.

National Assembly Education Committee chairman Julius Melly disclosed that the proposal to review the prohibition had been presented to the committee, adding that the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) played a critical role in advancing the proposal.

“Your proposal is within our committee, and I want to thank you. We have, we actually proposed that this be removed, is it?” He posed.

Melly has questioned why teachers face prosecution for physically disciplining learners while students who assault teachers appear to face less decisive consequences, arguing that the law has left educators increasingly powerless to enforce discipline.

In remarks signalling possible support for the return of corporal punishment, the Tinderet MP said the law had left teachers exposed to increasingly unruly learners who understand that their teachers have limited options when dealing with misconduct.

“Why are we punishing the teacher for corporal punishment, and everyone is quiet about the student?” Melly said in his address at the Kenya Comprehensive Schools Heads Association(KECSHA) conference in Mombasa.

“Even you yourselves know the students that we have right now in our schools. Some of them are completely undisciplined and they can fight you,” he added.

He argued that learners had become increasingly aware of the restrictions placed on teachers, making it difficult for them to enforce discipline without risking legal consequences.

“They can wake up one morning and box you because they know... these students and the parents know that you can do nothing, you can never take them anywhere,” he said.

Melly contrasted the treatment of teachers who physically punish learners with what he described as inadequate consequences for students who assault their instructors.

“But the teacher... just a little bit, you lightly tap them with a cane. The child is in court, the parents are in court, everyone is in court,” he said.

His remarks come against the backdrop of renewed concerns over school violence, following a series of incidents in which learners have attacked teachers, school administrators and examination officials.

The latest case was reported at Nyabisase Secondary School in Bobasi, Kisii County, where students attacked Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) officials and police officers conducting examination monitoring patrols.

The confrontation took an alarming turn when students reportedly seized a Ceska pistol from one of the police officers and remained in possession of the firearm for nearly three hours before it was recovered.

Several examination officials and security officers were injured during the incident, raising questions about the safety of personnel deployed to schools to oversee national examinations.

The debate also comes months after the country was confronted with a wave of school unrest during the second term, including the deadly fire at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil, Nakuru County.

Sixteen learners died after a dormitory was set ablaze in the May 28 incident, while 79 others sustained injuries.

Investigations pointed to arson, with students suspected of involvement in the incident facing criminal proceedings. The tragedy also exposed serious shortcomings in the school’s safety arrangements and raised questions about how administrators respond to intelligence about planned student unrest.

The government subsequently dissolved the school’s Board of Management, while the Teachers Service Commission initiated disciplinary action against the principal and two teachers over their alleged failure to act on warnings of impending unrest.

The incidents have intensified calls for a review of how schools handle indiscipline, with teachers and their representatives arguing that the existing framework does not adequately protect them when dealing with violent learners.

Kenya abolished corporal punishment in schools in 2001, when the government revoked provisions under the Education Act that had permitted teachers to administer caning as a disciplinary measure.

The decision followed growing concerns over physical and psychological abuse of learners and the recognition that corporal punishment violated children’s rights.

It was also in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Kenya ratified in 1990.

Article 19 of the convention requires governments to protect children from all forms of physical and mental violence, while Article 28(2) requires school discipline to be administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity.

Article 37 further protects children against torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The prohibition was subsequently reinforced under Section 36 of the Basic Education Act, 2013, which expressly bars physical or psychological torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of learners.

Anyone who contravenes the provision commits an offence punishable by a fine of up to Sh100,000, imprisonment for up to six months or both.

This means restoring corporal punishment would put the country in conflict with international child protection standards.