“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward (December 17, 1921 – March 30, 1994) wrote a whopping 4,000 epigrams but this one really inspires me.
Teaching is about touching lives and in another quote, William Ward says that he simply does not teach but touches the future of his subjects. That’s why I believe that teaching is not an income generating venture, it’s beyond a profession but rather a calling. You can’t inspire if you are mediocre.
In the early 2,000s I did a survey on corporal punishment in schools (Primary and Secondary) and I was just thrown into a world of trauma. This world is full persons filled with grey brains, black hearts. I visited schools and I saw wrath meted on young subjects by degree holders who had been fed with at least 20 University credits of developmental psychology and sociology so as to understand the brain works of a young mind and direct accordingly.
It beats logic when a teacher, who is supposed to be a mentor, resorts to a panic mode and drops guard to apply corporal punishment, something which might lead to injury of vital organs like eyes, ears, kidneys and liver; all life threatening issues.
Legal minds say, the law is very clear and indeed, the penal code (Section 234) on Grievous harm states: Any person who unlawfully does grievous harm to another is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life. Tied to that, the TSC code of regulations section 31 of the TSC code of conduct and ethics buttresses the word of William Ward by stating that a teacher is part of the society and in a dignified way remain as a good example to learners. Not to beat the hell out of their sensory nerves.
I might quote the law further and further but one thing I want to close with is a caution to teachers; that slap, that rugged cane, that insult, that kick, might result to an internal injury that might earn you a booking at Kamiti maximum prison till the good lord closes your chapter on earth.
However, the law will proscribe harsh penalties further where you will be found that you were attempting unorthodox means to circumvent of defeat justice. Cover up is illegal and especially where you use uninformed influence to compromise medics and witnesses. Threatening the subject and taunting parents/guardians might worsen the problem. Some might heap torment on you. Interdiction and loss of employment and pension will pain you.
Please remember that the school will not be guilty, the head teacher, the Principal, the learners and fellow teachers will remain with their families while you will breaking your back behind those unforgiving walls of a maximum prison, donning the stripped black and white garb, away from your family for the rest of your life.
Teachers, mentor don’t destroy!
NOTE: The Prevention of Torture Act (2017) classifies this as torture, a non-derogable right. This is because a teacher is a public officer. The penalty for this is imprisonment for 25 years. If the learner dies, life imprisonment.
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