Joshua Philip Levens, Ph.D.

Corporal Punishment in the Tanzanian Educational System

Although nearly ubiquitous throughout Tanzanian schools, corporal punishment is a demonstrable failure. Even if one were to discount its blows to student self-respect and human rights, corporal punishment quite simply fails even in the simple task of deterrence. Discipline problems are usually in direct proportion to the amount and quality of teacher supervision. Too often, teachers and administrators are absent, leaving students alone in classrooms for most of or all of the school day. Is it any wonder then that such students fail to arrive punctually, to stay put in the classroom all day, or to study quietly?

As a secondary school teacher at a rural Tanzanian school for two years, I often bitterly joked with my fellow teachers that if corporal punishment were so effective, it ought to be used right up the chain of command. Absent teachers ought to be flogged by the headmaster, absent headmasters to be flogged by the District Commissioner and so on, right up to the members of the National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) whose examinations are filled with fractured English, poorly chosen questions and numerous outright mistakes.

To give one truly horrible example from these tests, students were asked to explain why Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation does NOT apply near the surface of the Earth. So much for UNIVERSAL gravitation. Where is the oversight of NECTA? Why are students routinely punished for their poor performance on poor-quality tests?

Now it seems that reality also has a dark sense of humor. The BBC has reported the beating of primary school teachers in the Kagera region, ordered by the District Commissioner.

The teachers who were flogged reported that they were too ashamed to continue teaching. Yet students throughout Tanzania deal with such indignities daily and teachers still argue that beatings are necessary pedagogical tools. Even worse, there are those who argue that beatings are an inherent part of African culture and the only way to make African students behave. This is not African culture. This is the culture of slavery, colonialism and humiliation. Since independence, Tanzania has been governed by the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) “Party of the Revolution.” When will the revolution throw off the shackles of corporal punishment in the educational system? The problem is not unique Kagera’s District Commissioner Albert Mnali. It is a country-wide problem that needs to be addressed now.

Posted under: Tanzanian Society & Culture