Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has rejected calls by Education CS George Magoha for the return of corporal punishment in schools to curb the alarming upsurge of cases of indiscipline.

KNUT Secretary-General Wilson Sossion instead wants boarding schools abolished to allow parents to spend more time with their children as they return home after school each day.

“It is time for this country to abolish all boarding schools and have state-of-the-art day schools,” Sossion said.

According to Sossion, returning caning in schools will result in a conflict between teachers on one side and learners and parents on the other with potentially disastrous consequences.

He argued that lockdown occasioned by Covid 19 pandemic had exposed how most parents had transferred the role of disciplining their children to teachers.

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“We will not accept the return of corporal punishment, which will put our teachers in conflict with the leaners. If they want to return it, let them post police officers to schools who will be doing the caning job because these teenagers are likely to kill the teachers,” Sossion warned.

This comes days after Prof Magoha proposed return of the cane in schools to curb rising unrest and indiscipline being reported since schools reopened in January after a nine-month break.

“I may appear old school but I think we are at a time when we need to discuss how we can bring sanity in our schools and maybe bring the cane on board once more," he said Thursday.

Sossion said parents take the blame for student indiscipline for absconding their duties saying the role of teachers is to guide and teach learners and challenged parents to up their game.

“We want the parents to regain their skills of guiding their children after work as the work of the teachers is to impart knowledge and values between 8am to 5pm,” he added.

The KNUT boss was speaking in Nakuru during branch elections, where he accused the government of fighting Kenya’s labour movement through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).