By Saidu Ibrahim Kamara (MRCG/ATJLF Fellow 2025)
The enactment of the Basic and Secondary Education Act, 2023, which bans corporal punishment in schools across Sierra Leone, has sparked a nationwide debate. While the law aligns with international human rights standards and the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), many educators and parents believe it has left schools struggling to maintain discipline.
Teachers Left Out of the Conversation
School authorities argue that they were not adequately consulted before passing the law. Joseph Kosia, principal of John F. Kennedy Secondary School in Freetown, says teachers were not allowed to share their perspectives on alternative disciplinary methods.
“We were not consulted on what measures should replace corporal punishment,” Kosia says. “Now, we are expected to discipline pupils without the one tool that traditionally maintained order in classrooms, “the cane.”
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