Examining various forms of punishments in girls secondary schools in Kenya and their implications on learning
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Abstract
Punishment are forms of responses by parents, teachers, caretakers, guardians, etc to children or other subordinates used to address perceived or actual misbehavior patterns, bad conduct, or mistakes of others. Organisations are governed by various laws and regulations the breaking of which attracts specific penalties. Schools are organizations with a wide range of regulations and rules meant to control student conduct and behavior. Globally, students face punishment when they break school rules and guidelines. One form of penalties is corporal punishment which was banned in all schools in Kenya in the early 2000. This was followed by a wide range of protections put in the constitution (2010) which spell out penalties for people who break this law. The purpose of this study was to analyze the forms of punishment used in schools and their potential impact on learning among girls secondary schools in Kisii County of Kenya. The research questions of the study were: What are the common mistakes girl students fall into in schools? What are the forms of punishment administered on students?; What are the potential effects of these forms of punishment on learning? The findings indicate that petty theft; failure to report to school on time; failure to complete class assignments; petty fights; and rudeness are some of the common forms of misbehavior among girls in the schools studied. The penalties against student misbehavior include: Being asked to buy stolen items; being asked to go back home and be accompanied by parents/guardians; being asked to sit outside class and complete an assignment; being asked to mop a classroom or weed school flowers; and being asked to apologize. All these forms of punishment have the potential to negatively affect student attitudes, learning, and academic progress. We recommend that schools establish mechanisms of dealing with student indiscipline which do not affect learning, academic progress, and in breach of the constitution.
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