THE Primary and Secondary Education ministry has rapped the privately-run Riverton Academy in Masvingo for alleged abuse of 79 pupils who were caned in the dead of the night after some misdemeanour.
BY PHYLLIS MBANJE
The caning of pupils is not an acceptable form of discipline.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Tumisang Thabela said investigations relating to the matter revealed that about 79 students at the institution were caned on November 12.
The headmaster Herbert Mushandu indicated that the boys were caned between 10pm and 11pm after a misdemeanour.
“The ministry expects schools to establish a conducive teaching and learning environment that encourages learners to perform to their maximum potential,” she said.
Thabela also said the ministry will be engaging various stakeholders, including the pupils themselves, to come up with positive forms of discipline in line with the Constitution.
“The head of the school and administration staff are expected to act in loco parentis [in the place of a parent] all the time and to institute any corrective measures where there are cases of indiscipline in a professional and acceptable manner,” she said.
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Thabela, however, urged pupils to conduct themselves well at all times.
Meanwhile, the secretary said that appropriate action will be taken against any offending parties in the alleged abuse of pupils.
