EDITORIAL: It is high time student caning get reviewed

The findings of a study by HakiElimu, a non-governmental organisation, indicate that 87.9 percent of schooling children in the country have been victims of abuse while 90 percent of them have said that they have been subjected to capital punishment.

Unveiling the findings on February 24 in Dar es Salaam, the lead researcher, who is also a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Moses Mnzava, revealed that 54.9 percent of pupils and students were punished by being slapped.

Not only that, but also 54.7 percent of them, according to Dr Mnzava, have been subjected to other disciplinary measures, whereby teachers have been mentioned as big abusers.

This news is unwelcome at the present age as the pupils and students need the freedom of growing up without being subjected to any kind of abuse or mental torture.

Some teachers may take the decision of punishing pupils or students with no apparent reason as they may do so to vent their frustrations known to themselves. Teachers should know that they are counted as parents because they spend most of time with pupils and students at school supporting them to learn and become responsible citizens in future.

We see the increased number of street children in different parts of the country, whereby there may be many reasons that subjected them to that condition, but capital punishment from their teachers and parents could be one of them. As parents, guardians and teachers, we need to fondly care for the children, who need to enjoy their childhood and transition. Caning the schooling children by teachers is not the best way of correcting them, but mostly it will create fear among them to the extent of failing to seek academic help from their elders. The time has come for teachers to change and find an alternative instead of sticking to caning that may ruin the future of the schooling children.

Dialogue is the way to go

Preparations of a meeting between the government and members of Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) are underway.

That fact that the government and these private players are ready to meet and hold dialogue on problems that industrialists face in executing their duties really needs commendation.

According to CTI top leaders, the matters they wish to put forward before Industry and Trade Minister Godfrey Mwambe are those to do with what impedes competitiveness of the locally made products in the regional markets, that is, in the East African Community (EAC) as well as in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc). They point out some of the challenges as including: 15 percent import duty in additional industrial sugar; VAT refund delays; low duty imposed in imported leather, hence, affecting local manufacturing; the corporate income tax pegged at 30 percent making it too high; and, similar concerns over value added tax (VAT).

Given the fact that the government has been touting its determination to support economic growth through job creation, empowerment, raising quality of locally produced goods and value addition and ensuring that the products can be sold at competitive prices, then this meeting could provide the needed solutions.

Positive outcomes of the meeting may as well help attract more investors into the country, a move that would be a boost to the country’s economic growth.

Time for win-win measures for all players in the economy.