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To the Government of Kenya, generally:
C Amend the Education Act of 1968 and the Education (School Discipline) Regulations to abolish the use of corporal punishment in all Kenyan schools, public and private.
C The Attorney General should introduce the long-awaited redrafted Children's Bill to parliament for debate and ratification. The bill should abolish corporal punishment of children in all institutions, including regular schools and correctional schools.
C Ratify the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which Kenya has signed, and implement its provisions.
C Support programs that educate parents, teachers, and society at large about the harm of corporal punishment and the existence of effective alternatives.
To the Ministry of Education, generally:
C Clarify its position on the use of corporal punishment. The Ministry of Education should adopt and disseminate widely a policy prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools.
C Until new regulations are adopted, conduct awareness-raising campaigns regarding the existing regulations and the ministry's reported policy against the use of corporal punishment.
C Sponsor workshops to train teachers on methods of disciplining students that are not physically abusive. Provide additional instruction to headteachers and deputy headteachers regarding the harms of corporal punishment and the alternatives to corporal punishment.
C Until new regulations are adopted, educate parents and students about their rights under the existing regulations. Conduct special meetings at which these rights are explained to parents and pupils, and disseminate widely copies of the regulations.
C Establish an independent complaints board charged with investigating individual complaints and press and other reports of corporal punishment. Create an ombudsperson to facilitate the lodging of such claims by parents and children.
C Support the capacity of school guidance and counseling programs to learn about children's family situations, and to work with children's parents to resolve poor behavior or poor performance. Ensure that those conducting guidance and counseling programs for students receive professional training and oversight.
C Establish a counseling program for teachers, staffed by professionally-trained persons, which is independent of and separate from the local school. This service should provide guidance and support to teachers at risk of inflicting their personal frustrations upon their pupils.
To the Teachers' Service Commission:
C Investigate thoroughly every incident of corporal punishment reported in the Kenyan media and by parents and teachers. Publish the results of investigations, transcripts of disciplinary hearings, and statements of the penalties assessed.
C Take appropriate and immediate disciplinary action against accused teachers found to have violated the regulations, including counseling, probation, suspension, and termination. Hold headteachers accountable for teachers' actions in their schools.
C Require teachers to pledge that they will use only nonviolent means of disciplining students.
C Review teachers' records for incidents of corporal punishment before appointment, assignment, promotion, and transfer.
To Teachers' Training Colleges:
C Increase instruction of future teachers on classroom management techniques, including lessons on the harms of corporal punishment and the alternatives to corporal punishment. Make instruction on alternatives to physical means of discipline a mandatory and significant part of the curriculum.
C Develop in-session programs for experienced teachers to encourage them not to use physical punishments. Offer these workshops throughout the country. Appoint a faculty member to coordinate training and research efforts.
To Headteachers, Deputy Headteachers, and Teachers:
C Refrain from disciplining students corporally.
C Adopt classroom management techniques that do not rely on the use of physical punishment, such as positive reinforcement.
C Educate and support other teachers to refrain from using physical discipline.
C Do not prevent students who complain about corporal punishment from attending classes, and do not harass or threaten those students in other ways.
C Report cases of corporal punishment to the Ministry of Education and the Teachers' Service Commission. Headteachers should include incidents of corporal punishment in the Annual Confidential Report that they must submit for each teacher in their school.
To the Kenyan National Union of Teachers:
C Sponsor in-session workshops to train current teachers on non-physically abusive methods of disciplining students. Support the efforts of teachers' training colleges in developing alternatives to corporal punishment.
C Create support centers for teachers to provide counseling regarding professional and personal matters.
To the Kenyan Media:
C Investigate and report incidences of corporal punishment of students.
C Educate teachers, parents, and children about the harms of corporal punishment.
C Use its editorial voice to call for an end to corporal punishment in Kenyan schools.
To the United Nations:
C The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child should continue to inquire into corporal punishment in schools and to make its best efforts to encourage Kenya and other countries to abolish corporal punishment in all contexts.
C The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture should investigate corporal punishment of children in schools, to determine where school corporal punishment does constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
C The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education should investigate the use of corporal punishment in schools and its impact on children and on the right to education.
C U.N. agencies including UNICEF and UNESCO should fund and conduct workshops to train teachers in non-physically abusive methods of classroom management, should tie contributions to attendance and participation in these workshops, and should support the creation and distribution of materials to instruct teachers in these methods. These agencies should also sponsor school-based human rights programs which teach students about their human rights, including the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
To the International Donor Community:
C Fund workshops to train Kenyan teachers in non-physically abusive methods of classroom management, tie contributions to attendance and participation in these workshops, and support the creation and distribution of materials to instruct teachers in these methods.
C Sponsor school-based human rights programs in Kenya which teach students about their human rights, including the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
C Support programs that educate teachers, parents, and society at large about the harm of corporal punishment to children and the existence of effective alternatives.