At the mention of the name Jesus every knee bows and every tongue confesses, but at the mention of cane, every child becomes frantic with tremulous fear and anxiety and if they are not caned in moderation, they wish their teachers use the ‘sugarcane’ method as opposed to the ‘cane’ method as opined by the children or better still the pupils.

Children are generally unpredictable as far as their behaviours are concerned. They can be good today and behave differently tomorrow and the worst case is when they get to the adolescent stage. The earlier we understand this, the better for us to avoid caning them recklessly as teachers any time we boil with indignation as a result of their intransigence.

If we will always ride on the euphoria of a culture that allows us to hurriedly mete out punishments such as caning a child mercilessly and giving them other needless corporal punishments, then one day our recklessness will surely lead us to languish in prison cells since it will be very evident in our actions and inactions and our impenitent heart to destroy rather than build will mislead us to that point, and the same way you didn’t temper justice with clemency on the child, the same way the laws will treat you in equal measure.

We are to help the children grow to become better people in society as we show them pity at times in their ignorance to come to school late, abstain from doing homework, exercises and the likes and not to vent our spleen on them as we treat them with animosity and cruelty by giving them countless unrestricted number of strokes of the cane without showing mercy.

While cane is bitter, painful and makes one uncomfortable, sugarcane is sweet and makes one comfortable. What makes the sugarcane sweet is the presence of the dominant sugar in it. That is, the sugar attached to the cane. And what makes the cane bitter is the absence of sugar.

While sugarcane is an emblem of no problem for humanity, cane is like a hurricane which in most times when unregulated creates a lot of problems for humanity?both children and adults, making them to swelter in the heat of injustice.

Though the cane is in hurry to inflict pain, the sugarcane on the other hand is not in hurry to always mete out needless and reckless punishments to children as the only better alternative of correcting and putting them on right track.

I have no qualms about teachers who cane in moderation with the sole purpose of bringing discipline to the child but I do have qualms about teachers who peradventure use the cane on children in an uncontrollable manner that demoralizes them, creating unnecessary tension in them.

While I don’t condone the wrong doing of children, I think teachers should also develop the self-restraint especially when dealing with children, and using the sugarcane means of balancing their anger and frustration at times with the dominant sweetness in them that make them cane in moderation to correct and not to hurt people’s children.

Every teacher has the responsibility of using the sugarcane approach in disciplining a child with a little or restricted strokes of the cane, or other means of punishment that makes children learn their lessons to become better rather than becoming bitter or better still increasing the child’s appetite to become a school dropout because of sustained injuries and bruises as a result of unrestricted caning and punishments, creating a lot of inconveniences for them and their parents or guardians.

Research has shown that children who are caned are always frantic with fear anytime they are in school. They often coy and the joy to make them confident, assertive and probing disappears into thin air like a sitting president who has just lost an election to secure a second term in office, missing all the moments of luxury, pleasures and perks anytime he travels with his convoy accompanied by his envoy.

They often don’t like to go to school because of fear of countless lashes when late for school, when their homework is not done, when they don’t perform at their peak in class and many others.

Teachers must learn to adopt the sugarcane way of disciplining children rather than putting fear and panic in children which makes them do the right thing only when they are present.

This in my candid opinion is backward, an exercise in futility which yields no results for the school and humanity at large.
Teachers will always be bitter if they are glued to the cane all the time rather than being glued to the dominant sugar in them that makes their dulcet words of counselling coupled with their moderate punishment gradually transform their so-called stubborn students or pupils who many a time ignorantly upset them.

I am one person who will not renege on my resolve to ensuring that the advocacy for reckless caning be seen as a felony rather than a misdemeanor punishable by law.

Teachers are indispensable people in the society and is incumbent on them to conduct themselves in a manner that makes children confide in them at any point in time and not to become like tormenting demons in the life of children since every child picks attitudes, habits, tenets and values from them easily and in most cases capitulates easily to what they say.

Again, teachers must abstain from using unsavoury words and making derogatory remarks like ‘‘you are mentally slow, unsociable and adrift in your foolish dreams’’ which was made about Albert Einstein, one of the greatest mathematicians in history during his days in school and also comments like ‘‘addled’’ which was made in respect of one of the greatest inventors in history, Thomas Alva Edison by his teacher, Reverend Engle.

This is unacceptable, unfortunate and must not be the language of any teacher regardless of how poor and deficient a child is academically. Teachers must work in tandem with the authorities of their schools to have a reward mechanism that seeks to spur on and motivate not only pupils or children who are academically brilliant but those whose forte may be in areas of art, sports and the like to make them exceptional as they knuckle down and work harder rather than casting innuendoes, aspersions and keeping up a steady tirade against them which deprives them of the joy of staying in school.

This I believe will go a long way in bringing out the magic of excellence in them.
It will be in the best interest of every teacher to know that the use of the cane coupled with insults on children at all times will not work the magic of bringing up children or better still their pupils to make them better people in society.

We must showcase the sweet side of our life that stems from the dominant sugar within us, which makes the child feel a sense of importance and belonging to a family replete with charity and not animosity and cruelty. The school is a great family and must be seen as such by every teacher in our quest to shape and build society.

Recently I had to make a teacher face the full rigours of the law as I reported him to the police for mercilessly and recklessly caning my cousin, who sustained injuries and bruises. In fact, I was upset because that wasn’t the first time, and I felt he could use his dulcet words and the sugarcane approach to correct her when he became upset for whatever reason rather than caning her mercilessly and recklessly to the extent that she sustained injuries coupled with the traumatic condition he subjected her to after several threats.

This for me was ridiculous and most insufferable, and even though I had to use the dominant sugar in me to show him mercy as I withdrew the case from the police station after he ate his words and showed remorse, I still hold the view that anybody who does that must be brought to book as he or she faces the full rigours of the law to serve as a deterrent to the many teachers who engage in such recklessness, lawlessness and impunity.

My good friends, teachers, if you saw the extent to which this teacher squirmed in his seat upon interrogation by the policemen, you will be extra careful handling people’s children left to your care. Your case may be different, so let not your indignation caused by any of your students or pupils lead to your incarceration made possible by a court of competent jurisdiction. But for my intervention to withdraw the case, his incarceration would have come to fruition. So my good friends, teachers, tread cautiously because nobody is above the law.

Every child must see the school as a place for both studies and fun devoid of needless tension and duress from teachers, headmasters, headmistresses, directors and the likes.

The fact is, they must be treated with tact and diplomacy and not human supremacy of ego which we can forgo when the sugarcane approach is used to calm tempers at the slightest provocation from a child.

Today, even though Ghana Education Service has issued a directive to the effect that canes must not be used in schools on any child, some teachers have turned a deaf ear to this and treat it with disdain as they mercilessly and recklessly terrorize the lives of these innocent children who make an interesting world.


The funny aspect is that, these teachers are people who have not given birth before and sometimes it’s difficult to blame them considering the fact that some ended up in the teaching profession not because of their love and passion to help these children obtain knowledge, skills and attitude to develop their lives but simply because they needed to find something doing as they vent their spleen and frustration on these innocent children as a result of the unemployment canker that has put them there.

If I had any advice for such teachers, I will say, ‘stay away from teaching so that no child runs away’ or better still ‘remain and change your attitudes towards these children because they are the future leaders who will take this great country of ours to the right destination’.

I want to reiterate without mincing words that if your intension is to create trepidation and panic in children because of provocation caused by them which makes you boil with indignation, then one day your incarceration will come to fruition by a court of competent jurisdiction.

So my good friends, teachers, I ask the question again?why cane when there is sugarcane?