By ELVIS ONDIEKI
In their bid to make secondary school students law abiding citizens of tomorrow, teachers sometimes administer interesting punishments.
We interviewed some youths who made it to university to get a feel of the secondary school judiciary. Respondents left their respective secondary schools between 2004 and 2009.
The commonest misdemeanour is serving food more than once at the dining hall, an act whose nicknames are as many as there are students with elephants' appetites.
If you were found guilty of the offence at St John's Nyamagwa in Kisii County, Albert Mwangi recalls, you would be given a basin full of food then instructed to sit at a central place in the hall, with your legs stretched straight. Then you would eat as others cheered you on.
At Cardinal Otunga Mosocho in the same county, recalls Amos Ontita, the offender was made to stand at a certain place on the serving counter. "After that you would be given food continuously from the cooks till you had your fill and your dose of mockery, because everyone who came to serve saw you," remembers Mr Ontita.
Being served with excess food was also a punishment mode at Maseno School in Kisumu County according to Collins Otwane.
Being guilty of the same offence at St Daniel's Boys' in Nithi County, says Mutwiri Gatobu, meant one had to spend three days in the kitchen assisting cooks. "One would stay in the kitchen from 4.30 a.m. till late at night, working under supervision from the chief cook. The idea behind this punishment was to make you have access to food at all times," he notes.
Dining hall temptations aside, the dormitory is another place where secondary school youngsters are wont to have a willing spirit but a weak body. Oversleeping and subsequently missing morning preps is commonplace.
A majority of secondary schools – from St Mary's Yala to St Luke's Yatta – had the form of punishment where an oversleeping student was made to bring their bedding to an exposed place and "enjoy" their sleep all day long, weather conditions notwithstanding.
Sleeping in class invited a different kind of wrath though. At Makwa Secondary School in Kiambu County, Gabriel Gatumbi notes, the heavy-eyed had to go up. "A certain Geography teacher would make the offender stand on their desk for the rest of the lesson," recollects Mr. Gatumbi. "The words he would use when ordering you to do that were: 'Young man, the higher you go the cooler it becomes,'" he adds. The same punishment was there at St. Luke's Yatta in Kitui County according to Amos Nzyimi.
Standing on the desk was also a form of punishment for the nosey ones who had been caught craning necks to see the visitors that were arriving at Matuu Memorial in Machakos County. "Rickety locker or not, you had to stand," recalls Florence Musyoki.
Noise making is another misdeed that most students find themselves committing.
At St Luke's Yatta, recalls Nzyimi, noise makers would be punished by being taken to the staffroom to stay there for a period of time. "Given the way teachers were feared, no one could so much as speak," he says.
One teacher at Hema Chitago Secondary in Kisii County, remembers Felix Onchweri, had an old thermos which he would hang on a noise maker's neck using a rope.
At Bahati Girls' in Nakuru County, remarks Jayne Wang'ombe, noise makers would be made to pick coffee at the school farm — or "the hacienda" as students called it.
Speaking of farming, those who had erred so much at Alliance Girls' were made to attend to pigs at the school pigsty, recall Elizabeth Muriithi and Maria Chelagat.
A more exacting punishment for noise makers existed at Kalawa High School in Kitui County, says Brian Ndiku. "Noise makers would be made to collect a thousand or more kei-apple thorns. Sometimes the thorns would be weighed in kilogrammes. At other times, you would be asked to collect 500 pen lids," he discloses.
Petty theft is another common foible among students.
At Lugulu Girls' in Bungoma County, recollects Rachel Moturi, anyone who was found guilty of stealing a garment would be forced to wear an orange-coloured bib on top of her uniform. The bib had the words "BEWARE I AM A THIEF" written in boldface.
Cate Chichi also recalls that there was such kind of banner at St. Clare's Maragoli. "On top of that, the culprit would buy four times whatever she stole," she states.
Students at Catholic-run schools sometimes get tempted to skip mass. This is a dead serious mistake in some schools that can warrant suspension.
At Kambui Girls', those found in class when it was time for mass would be made to sit on the floor in front of the staffroom for quite some time so that every teacher noted them, recalls Loise Kamau. "Fellow students would also mock you later because the staffroom was strategically placed," she adds.
Knowing that students are crazy about dating, some teachers hit where it hurts during innings and outings.
"At Mbooni Boys' in Makueni County", recalls Sylvester Mutua, "there was a principal who would pin students' results on the notice board whenever girls were visiting the school. If he spotted a weak student trying to court a girl, he would call both of them to the notice board and show the girl that she was being approached by a failure," he says.
Bearing in mind that pride means the world to students, some teachers at mixed schools mete out punishments to belittle someone in the eyes of members of the opposite sex.
Otieno Owino from St Vincent Mixed Secondary in Homa Bay County recalls a punishment that hurt any man's pride. "An errant male student would be made to dislodge rocks for several hours under the scorching sun," he recalls. "Girls looking at you as you wrestled a rock for two or three days made it a traumatising act," Owino adds.
Classwork-related misdeeds also attract varying punishments.
Procrastinators had a hell of life at Moi Girls' Edoret, recalls Edna Omare. "If you failed to do an assignment, you would be ordered to take your books plus the necessary stationery and do it outside while standing. You were not allowed either to bend or to put down any of the things you held in your hand," she points out.
At Starehe Boys' Centre, recalls Maalim Salat, punishment was a bit extraordinary. "Starehe was the only school where a student was punished for over-reading. It was an offence for a Form One student to be in class reading at 9.05 p.m. Also, the official hour for waking up was 6 a.m., but no one could go to class till 8 a.m.," he reminisces.
Salat also notes that it is prefects who administered punishment. "Teachers would note your name down and hand it over to prefects for punishment," he adds.
At Kagwe Girls' in Kiambu County, recalls Cathy Nguru, there was a Maths teacher (now deceased) who was allergic to banging lockers. "If you banged a locker when he was in class, he would order you to go out with the locker and continue banging till his lesson ended," she notes.
Some students also fall into the temptation to skip games so as to read.
If you were discovered skiving games activities at Maseno School, recollects Collins, you had to mop the class in which you were found reading.
"At Starehe Boys', someone who skipped PE was made to spend six hours washing twelve toilets," recalls Salat.
Because they are suckers for shortcuts, secondary school students find themselves skipping pavements and stepping on the grass. At Bahati Girls', says Jayne, a student was made to stand at the spot she had been found stepping on grass for close to two hours.
Most punishments depended on harshness of the teacher on duty and/or the principal and his deputy.
"There was a teacher at Makwa Secondary in Kiambu County", remembers Gabriel Gatumbi, "who did not want students to shave the 'Jordan' style, a style he associated with criminals. If he noted that you had shaved 'Jordan', he would send you home to come back when hair had grown," remembers Gatumbi.
"Another one at Hema Chitago Secondary would make you to drink a whole kettle of water if he found you going to take water during class hours," remembers Onchweri. "Failure to take it all, strokes of the cane would follow," he quips.
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