Child rights groups and the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) have called on teachers to embrace positive discipline and abandon practices that humiliate, intimidate or physically punish learners.
Speaking to journalists ahead of World Teachers’ Day, Damon Wamara, the Executive Director of the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network, said Uganda needs teachers who guide behaviour and correct mistakes without resorting to fear or the cane. World Teachers’ Day is observed globally on October 5 to commemorate the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.
The 2026 observance marks 60 years since the recommendation was adopted and comes under a theme centred on standing with teachers and advancing the status of the teaching profession. Wamara said ending corporal punishment requires challenging a culture that normalises violence as a way of exercising power over those with less power.
He said this culture extends beyond classrooms into homes and communities, while the digital era has also introduced new forms of technology-facilitated violence.
He said schools should equip children with non-violent ways of resolving conflict and managing behaviour. “If we want to build a less violent society, we must begin by equipping schools and teachers with positive ways to guide and nurture children such that our children learn the same,” he said.
The Children (Amendment) Act, 2016, prohibits corporal punishment in schools and other learning institutions. Offenders face up to three years in prison, a fine, or both. Ministry of Education and Sports circulars issued in 1997 and 2006 also banned the practice.
Despite the legal prohibition, corporal punishment remains widespread. The 2024 National Learning and Assessment Report by Uwezo Uganda found that about 70 per cent of schools still use corporal punishment, mainly caning and physical labour. About 9.2 per cent of schools reported using it often, while 60.7 per cent said they used it sometimes.
At home, the prevalence was higher, at 85 per cent. In June 2026, Nicholas Nakibinge, a Senior Four student at New Life Secondary School in Luweero District, died after he was allegedly beaten by a teacher. Police arrested some school staff and launched a manhunt for the main suspect.
The incident sparked widespread condemnation and renewed calls for enforcement of the ban. Filbert Bates Baguma, the UNATU General Secretary, backed the call for positive discipline, stressing that corporal punishment is illegal and that teachers must adopt alternative ways of correcting learners.
Baguma said some teachers mistakenly believe that caning is the only form of corporal punishment and, when discouraged from using it, resort to other practices that can be equally harmful. He cited forcing learners to dig large portions of land for long hours, making them miss lessons, or requiring them to carry bricks behind classrooms as examples of practices that disrupt learning and undermine children’s welfare.
The Ministry of Education and Sports has for years provided schools with a handbook outlining alternatives to corporal punishment, but stakeholders say its guidance has not been fully embraced by teachers.
Wamara called for greater investment in teachers’ professional development beyond subject knowledge, saying educators need practical skills to build positive relationships with learners and manage behaviour without fear or force.
In Uganda, stakeholders say the occasion should also prompt reflection on how schools can become violence-free environments that protect learners while strengthening the dignity, safety and professional standing of teachers-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
