How to make schools a place students love

Pre-Primary pupils of Alkhair Royal School learn how to communicate on an opening day. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

My career in international education (barely spanning a decade) has made me realise just how much of a raw deal I got as a student. And I wouldn't want to ever make my students feel, even remotely, what some of my teachers made me feel.

I'm sure many of my generation can attest to being humiliated by some teachers. And forget about the caning, the psychological humiliation was/is way worse! I vividly remember this teacher in primary school, a lady, who one afternoon made fun of my broken teeth as a way to contain my murmuring with a desk mate. The whole class burst into hysterical laughter. I hardly recovered from that for the rest of my primary school years. I had a few unpleasant experiences in school that knocked my confidence. Almost shattered my esteem. Made me walk with a slouch. Made me doubt myself so much.