By RFIPosted on 06-10-2019Modified on 06-10-2019 at 20:07

In Tanzania, corporal punishment against students is regularly singled out by human rights organizations. The subject is once again much talked about in the country, after President John Magufuli on Friday congratulated the governor of a region of the South for beating students accused of torching their dormitory.

If the Tanzanian president has spoken on the subject, it is that the video of this caning has become viral on social networks. On this video, we see Albert Chalamila, the governor of the Mbeya region, very angry, violently whack the buttocks of fourteen teenagers lying on the ground. These students are suspected of setting fire to their dormitory following the confiscation of their mobile phone.

Huu ni ukatili hakuna nidhamu inafundishwa kwa RC kupita mashuleni na kupiga viboko (suala ambalo tumezuia waalimu) ... Tunajenga mazingira yenye double standard nyingi sana katika uongozi wa sasa pic.twitter.com/xfjvus3R5d

Think Different (@lifeofmshaba) October 3, 2019

An appeal for violence hailed Friday by Tanzanian President John Magufuli.

" Today, I spoke to the regional governor of Mbeya, and I congratulated him for inflicting these canes on these students. In fact, I told him he should have given them more shots. It is absurd for the government to put these structures in place and for students to burn them later simply because they were caught using mobile phones at school. Parents should stop opposing corporal punishment, in fact, the law should be changed to allow such punishment, "said President John Magufuli.

These punishments, on the other hand, have been condemned by the main Tanzanian organizations for the defense of human rights. Such practices are not uncommon in the country. In a report published in 2017, Human Rights Watch called on the authorities to ban these punishments because, according to the NGO, these often brutal and humiliating sanctions affect school attendance.

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