The other day I witnessed the most extreme abuse I have ever seen in a Tanzanian school. This case is illustrative of how Tanzanian schools handle teachers who give corporal punishment outside the legal and ethical boundaries of their society.
I was standing outside my office watching a teacher, who is consistently abusive in his punishments, yell at students. Classes had been canceled for the rest of the day (3 periods), so that students could cut grass, and he was displeased with how the students were approaching the work. He began yelling at students, and then proceeded to yell at one of the best form Form IV girls, who also happens to be a Discipline Prefect. He made her bend over, and proceeded to beat her four times on the back with very hard strokes. After the first two she tried to walk away to recover, and the teacher followed her, giving her two more. The punishment appeared to be over, and she walked across the grass away from him. The teacher yelled at her, following her. She turned around, and he proceeded to use two sticks – one in each hand – to beat her furiously on the front of her body 8 times. He hit her legs, arms and chest. He was obviously beyond angry and was acting without a thought for the legal boundaries that constrain corporal punishment of students (which, I believe, say that girls are only allowed to be hit on the hands, only by women teachers, and not more than three times).
She was crying, and as the teacher walked away, the Discipline Master (who witnessed all but the start of the abuse) approached. She approached the Discipline Master, who told her to go to our office. I approached her, apologizing for the teacher, and telling her that his punishment was unacceptable. This is the first time that I have ever done so. We walked to my office, where she sat in tears for 20 minutes. I asked her what the teacher had said she had done, and she told me that she had not been doing a good enough job making the students cut the grass, because she had a headache. This is what justified the horrific beating she received in front of a large crowd of students. I told her that I would help her file a complaint if she wanted, and that I would do anything I could to help her.
The Discipline Master came in a few minutes later, and I approached him, saying that the punishment was completely unacceptable and abusive. He agreed, saying that he would take it up with the Secondmaster or the Headmaster. I explained what had happened, my disgust evident, and he said that he had seen it as well, and did not think it was good, though he seemed more concerned that she was a girl and had been beaten in front of all the students. I asked if I should come with him to discuss it, and he said it would not be necessary.
Later that afternoon I spoke with him again. He said that the girl had been allowed to go home, and that the issue would be taken up in the next staff meeting (who knows when), and that teachers would be encouraged to comply with the regulations on punishment. He said it was not a good idea to talk to the teacher directly, because he obviously had anger issues, and a direct confrontation would not solve the problem. He also said that the student had agreed to forgive the teacher (no doubt because he would make her life miserable if she tried to complain).
Despite the fact that the punishment this teacher administered went over the line in so many ways, it is now a mere agenda item on the next staff meeting, and the teacher will not be directly approached for his misconduct. The way this issue was handled is so illustrative of how Tanzanian schools function that to imagine a different resolution is completely mind-blowing. The headmaster would never think to pursue this seriously, and even district officials, made aware of such abuse, would never seriously consider any kind of punishment for the teacher, because this is what goes on every day in schools across the country. This is Tanzania.
Absolutely shameful. Thank you for intervening, at least the girl will know that someone cares and knows it was wrong.
Is there anyone anywhere in the country who would take this issue more seriously? Does WorldTeach have a forum to bring this up in?
Alex, first of all, miss you and am excited to see you soon.
I trust that you are doing all you can given your situation for the vulnerable students or people around you. Wish you the best of luck in that fight,
I wish I could engage with you in a face to face discussion about the broader implications of what you just posted, but I do have some questions. “This is Tanzania”. Seems to be a phrase that has implied more and more antipathy. How do you feel about your experience overall in Tanzania? I have read anecdotes and case by case analysis of various issues, but what is the over riding theme? Obviously you pursued this experience to deepen and broaden your understanding of a continent and the issues regarding it that troubled, fascinated and engaged you. Is there regret? If so, why? If not, it sounds like you have become more and more, dare I say it, cynical. Perhaps I am wrong, and your expectations were more tempered than I realized. It just seems that there is disillusionment creeping in which makes me worry. I suppose the question I am trying to ask is: Do you feel there is more or less work to be done to solve these issues without the imposition of you and I’s culture (which I know you are against)? And how has the answer to that question influenced your over all ideas about the concepts that you write and think about?
Much love, Ben.
Ben, thank you for such a thoughtful response to my post. I certainly hope when I see you that we can talk about some of the issues surrounding this post and others. I think what you notice is that initially in my posts I tried to be as much of an observer as possible, but as time has gone on it has become more difficult to simply observe some of the more awful (to my perspective) things that happen at my school. “This is Tanzania” is more of a tacit acceptance that this is how things are here, and that really I have only a very limited ability to do anything that might impact the way corporal punishment is utilized here. Generally, I have little to no ability to impact practices that are so fundamental to Tanzania. Really, it is up to Tanzanians to change the way they do business. The only thing I can do, as a concerned onlooker, is in my own actions show that this abusive punishment is entirely unnecessary. Part of the experience here has actually made me realize that in many ways the schools would not function if corporal punishment was not used, but obviously I think that a lot of the punishment is in fact abusive. I do believe that there are Tanzanians who agree with me (in this case, the discipline master), but I think it’s a lot harder for Tanzanians to stand in judgement of one another than it would be in America for one teacher to report the behavior of another. Anyway, those are some musings for now – my internet is up, and there are no easy answers to your question.