A Study On The Use Of Corporal Punishment In Maintaining Discipline In Dodomamunicipality Secondary Schools

ABSTRACT

This study examined the use of corporal punishment in maintaining discipline to secondary schools students in Dodoma Municipality in Tanzania. It was guided by three objectives: to investigate the rationale of using corporal punishment in maintaining discipline in students; to examine the educational stakeholders’ perceptions on the use of corporal punishment in maintaining discipline and to find out the effects of corporal punishment on students’ learning and behavior Three secondary schools were randomly selected for data collection and one school was selected for a pilot study. Data were collected from three secondary schools with a sample size of 75 respondents, through questionnaires, interviews, FGDs, documentary review and observation methods. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis while quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS and were presented in table of frequencies and percentages.

Generally, the overall results indicated that the majority of respondents supported the use of CP in maintaining discipline to students but with moderation. They argued that, if CP will be abolished, schools will descend into chaos. This study reveals that respondents were supportive of using CP in maintaining discipline to students.

Implications of this study are drawn and several recommendations are presented to educational stakeholders such as policy makers, heads of schools/teachers, parents and students on how to use or avoid corporal punishment. Recommendations are also made for purposes of conducting other future studies along the line of this study with focus to others districts and levels of education