EDITOR—I am a teacher trainee and have recently witnessed something I thought had long been wiped out by civilisation— beating students.

I saw students being caned because they were making noise in class. What vexed me though, was the fact that they were not allowed to explain why they were making noise. Being in S5, perhaps they were discussing classwork.

But I also wondered why the teacher meant to teach them was not in class. There is no way they would have started making noise when there was a teacher in class.

In developed countries a teacher would be arrested for caning a student because it is considered to be criminal assault. Students can be punished in many other ways.

For example, they can be made to cleaning the staff room, write an apology letter or slash the compound. It defeats my understating to see a teacher cane students in this global village era. A teacher should respect his or her students. Teachers are not necessarily better than the students they teach. It is only because teachers are older. But given given time, students too are capable of growing into responsible people.
Gideon Nviiri
Uganda Christian University Mukono