Teachers have an enormous responsibility of taking care of the young people entrusted to them, and guiding them to gain knowledge as they are moulded into responsible future citizens.

They help foster learners’ critical thinking, thus shaping their character and assisting them in navigating their academic and personal lives. As they spend a lot of time with the children while their parents are elsewhere trying to earn a living, teachers play a pivotal role in their lives.

Unfortunately, some teachers make the lives of learners miserable. Corporal punishment was abolished, but some incorrigible teachers still wield the cane, inflicting serious injuries on learners. However, they are not above the law.

Other forms of punishment traumatise the young learners. They include actions that humiliate pupils among their peers and make some of them hate school.

A shocking recent incident has sparked outrage in Njoro in Nakuru County, where teachers reportedly humiliated two pupils over undergarments. To many parents, school is supposed to be a safe haven for their daughters and sons, the place to learn, dream, and grow. But their hopes get terribly shattered.

Two pupils have been left traumatised and too embarrassed to attend class following an ordeal at a primary school suffered at the hands of their teachers. A female teacher reportedly scolded the child for wearing trousers under her uniform. She was ordered to remove it and was dragged to the staffroom.

The minor was then paraded and mocked in front of more than 20 female and male teachers for allegedly not putting on her underwear. Her sister was also asked whether she had worn her underpants. The Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission should thoroughly investigate and punish the teachers found culpable. It is commendable that a team from the ministry has already visited the school on a fact-finding mission.