A Tanzanian School Against Violence and Corporal Punishment: An Evaluation Report on the Basis of Interviews with Teachers, Social Workers and Pupils

Abstract

Abstract Within the chapter, we report on the scientifically controlled implementation of a new non-violent and highly inclusive secondary school in Tanzania in the region of Mwanza. To give a detailed picture of the school the founder of the school, one teacher, one social worker and 18 students aged 13–16 years of age of five different classes were interviewed. The school was set up as a best practice example to fight the high amount of corporal punishment and school violence in Tanzania. The school focusses on vulnerable students like children and youths of rural areas, from broken families and poor households as well as female students, orphaned children, youths and students with handicaps. A special focus is placed on the schooling of children with albinism who have often been exposed to discrimination, exclusion, mutilation or murder. The concept of the school is based on a study by Tangi (2019) as well as Stein et al. (2019a, 2019b) on harsh discipline and violence by teachers and bullying by students in secondary schools in the region of Mwanza in Tanzania. The newly established school is also based on the concept of child rights-focussed schools, on the concept of coaching and mentoring as well as on the ideas and ideals of inclusion. In 2021, Felista Tangi, founder of the school, was granted the Shalom Award of the Working Group Shalom of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany, for her work against corporal punishment and for a more peaceful society.