Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha, and his Interior counterpart, Fred Matiang'i are pushing for the reintroduction of caning in public schools. This is despite numerous studies showing that "physical punishment — including spanking, hitting and other means of causing pain — can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury and mental health problems for children."

The most affected will likely be younger children from poor backgrounds. Our children are expected to carry on as normal during a pandemic where they lost a whole academic year, families lost livelioods, abuse cases rose among other challenges.

Corporal punishment is not the answer. And will never be the answer. We owe Kenyan children much more than that.