The Government of the Republic of Uganda banned corporal punishment in 2006, but despite this, corporal punishments continue in schools. There is a general view that in order to eradicate harmful punishment in schools, it is vital to support and equip teachers with knowledge and skills to promote a positive environment in the classroom that encourages good behavior. This incorporates teaching and learning which is inclusive, child centered and activity based, and positive discipline rather than harmful punishment.
Corporal punishment is harmful and a policy which aims to eradicate it through Advisory Notices or Government Orders already exists. While the policy to ban is important, it is equally important to support teachers in making these bans realistic and effective. Teachers need support in managing classes through positive behavior and capacity building in alternative forms of discipline. This training manual has been adopted to provide tools and modules to assist education authorities and partners to support teachers in the making the classroom environment more child friendly and safe in order to eliminate corporal punishment and enhance positive discipline.
The intention of using positive discipline techniques is to build on available resources, experiences and knowledge. However, relevant changes in the module based on actual facilitation experience and feedback from participants should be encouraged. Focusing on positive techniques has been found to be more effective. Practice has shown that while focusing on positive techniques, participants move towards their own positive, creative state of mind and hence the tendency to justify physical punishments begins to fade. Such an attitude would automatically displace punishments. We hope that anybody using this training manual would retain this spirit.
Learn More About World Vision's SAGE-DREAMS Project: https://www.wvi.org/article/spotlight-adolescent-hiv-grant-programming-uganda-and-malawi