School Committees’ Views On Persistent Use Of Physical Punishment In Primary Schools In Tanzania: A Case Of Mbarali District

ABSTRACT

This study explored the views of school committee members on the persistent use of physical punishment as disciplinary measure in primary schools. The study focused on three research questions which were: (1) to what extent was physical punishment practiced in primary schools as disciplinary measure? (2)What were the views of the school committee members on the use of physical punishment in primary schools? and (3)What were the alternative strategies for maintaining discipline in schools? This study employed qualitative approach whereby two designs, namely cross section survey and phenomenology design were used. The study was conducted in five primary schools in Mbarali District in Mbeya Region. A total of 132 informants were involved in this study. Data were collected through questionnaire and interview methods. Purposive sampling was used to obtain five school prefects in each primary school and school committee members, while simple randomly sampling was used to select seven pupils and five teachers in each school. Stratified random sampling was employed to select pupils from four classes. The data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis inform of themes or patterns. The findings indicate that physical punishment was a common method used in primary schools in Mbarali district as a means of maintaining school discipline. Teachers involved in this study admitted to have caned their pupils and all pupils participated confirmed to have been canned at least once per week. Counseling method was the most suggested method by both pupils and school committee members as an alternative method of maintaining discipline in the schools. Altogether, more than half of the pupils participated in this study indicated their dislike of physical punishment.