Does caning instill discipline?

By Carol Natukunda

FOR decades, teachers have used canes to instill excellence and discipline among their students. You would be caned if you misbehaved, failed a test or arrived late for classes.

In August 2006, however, the education ministry banned caning and corporal punishments in schools, citing physical injury and torture of students. At the time, The New Vision had published a story about five students of Mandela Comprehensive SSS in Arua district who had been hospitalised after being caned by a teacher.

“The use of the cane as a disciplining measure shall not be permitted in all schools and colleges, as well as nursery schools and infant classes,” an August 7, 2006 circular, signed by the director of education John Mbabazi, read.

The ministry further noted that the traditional values of using corporal punishments as a disciplinary measure on children had been exaggerated.

“In practice, the use of the cane has deteriorated into random and irresponsible beating of students by the teachers and fellow students. Even the use of bare hands has at times inflicted a disability of one form or the other on the victims,” Mbabazi wrote.

Against caning
Only one and a half years down the road, some stakeholders want the cane brought back arguing that it is the only way to achieve excellence. But opponents of caning counter that beating doesn’t yield any results.

“People are missing the point,” says Sam Onek, the former commissioner for primary education: “At the end of the day, you are creating a violent community. It is against the laws, but you are teaching the children that it is okay to break the law!”

Onek’s observation is consistent with the adage “violence begets violence.” By using caning as an appropriate method of dealing with problems, it provides children with a poor role model of adult behaviour.

Research also shows that caning can result into depression, withdrawal, sleep disturbances, avoidance of school, learning problems, loss of self-esteem and delinquency.

A 2005 study by Raising Voices Uganda, a child rights’ organisation, cited caning as a form of violence against children. A huge 78.3% of adults in Uganda were found to cane children as a way of instilling discipline, but the effects were daunting.

The study titled Violence Against Children: The Voices of Ugandan Children and Adults, shows that while 56.6% of the children who were caned or abused felt ashamed of themselves, 36% of children harboured fantasies of revenge as they grappled with what to do with their feelings. About 66.7% of children felt angry when they were abused, while 65.9% of them lived in perpetual fear of the adults around them.

“It (caning) is a dead and dying practice,” says Deborah Sekitoleko, the program officer at Raising Voices. “Children learn best when they are in a safe and supportive learning environment, not in an environment of fear.”

Pro-caning
However, critics argue that caning is a way of instilling obedience in the child, whereas “soft” alternatives — suspension or apologising — have little impact.

“If children know that they are going to be lashed, they won’t be naughty any more; they will work hard to improve their grades because there will be better discipline in schools,” says a senior education officer.

“I love children, but when I see how many are going astray, it is heartbreaking. A cane adds just one small fear factor back into the school system,” the officer goes on.

Dokolo LC 5 chairman, J. B. Okello Okello also recently advised headteachers in the district to “use the cane on their students in order to uplift the education standards in the area.”

Although teachers deny that they actually use the cane, children confide that they are spanked “for missing homework or for untucked shirts or unkempt hair.”

“Sometimes there are slaps or earlobes are pinched; it is painful,” says Claire Atukwatsa, a P4 pupil in Kampala.

Teachers have their reasons. Priscilla Kyohairwe, a part-time teacher in Kampala, says parents are in their support.

“I am convinced that parents want us to beat their children. Some even call us or come to schools and demand that their children should be caned,” she says. Kyohairwe is herself a mother.

She says she has an “internal arrangement” with the teachers at her son’s school that, “If they feel he has done an act that warrants him being caned, they should do so.”

“I am a fan of caning because I received it and I know how it can change a person’s attitude when you are on the receiving end. There is a difference between abuse and correction,” says another teacher, who prefers anonymity.

“There are some students who were well behaved but are now unruly because of the new law. They are taking advantage of the fact that beating is no more. They are doing wrong intentionally.”

The issue is also a big debate the world over. In Britain for instance, educationists desperately want the cane brought back, arguing that the students are far too rowdy. The ban has also been challenged in court, 20 years after it was effected. Some teachers and teaching unions argue that it is an infringement on religious and parental rights.

Alternative punishment
The education minister, Namirembe Bitamazire says they are drafting 100 pages of guidelines to enforce alternative disciplinary measures in schools. However, they are not yet conclusive. She explains that once complete, the guide will mostly tackle the issue of discipline, what it means to a neighbour, a group, to a friend, teacher, and among the students.

“We are still scrutinising issues. We need to sensitise the headteachers, teachers and other people such as the matrons, nurses, cooks, guards and others, before it becomes final,” says Bitamazire.

She urges teachers to take time with the pupils to help them appreciate the need to co-exist with one another.

“Teachers should stop using proverbs like ‘Spare the whip, spoil the child’. This is archaic. The world has developed. Show the pupils or students why discipline is important, rather than rush to punish,” she says.

Raising Voices has launched a project dubbed ‘Safer Schools’ to advocate for alternative penalties such as writing apologies or verbally apologising in front of the whole school and saying out loud the offense committed, being listed in the black book, suspension and expulsion as the last resort.

Mulago Secondary School is one of the maiden schools under the project and Mastula Nakiboneka, the director of studies, says it is working well.

“Initially, we had teachers being cursed, teachers being threatened, children going to class and not doing anything but still expecting to pass. But our new penalties have worked. A child feels bad to be the same culprit that is appearing in front of the school everyday to apologise,” says Nakiboneka

Elizabeth Mpande, a Mathematics teacher at Aga Khan High School agrees: “We need to be kind yet tough. But toughening is not necessarily beating. I make it clear that anybody who does not do my work will repeat the class; and that makes them work hard. No one wants to repeat.”