School Heads Sets Tough Rules Ahead Of School Reopening

School heads are now proposing a raft of punitive laws targeting both parents and students ahead of school reopening on April 25.

During their annual conference in Mombasa on Monday 18^th, school heads proposed adopting a new rule to see parents of indiscipline students spend millions in damages during the unrest.

School heads are now pushing for the review of laws so that students found culpable of organizing strikes in schools should be held individually responsible and do away with blanket punishment.

“In my view, we shouldn’t punish everybody because some of the children are innocent; a few people might have hatched the plan. If this is the case, when we charge everybody, we end up punishing the children and their parents,” Kenya Secondary Heads Association (KSSHA) chair Indimuli Kahi opined.

ALSO READ: Protecting Kenya’s Environment is Key to Enhancing Food Security

The school heads also reignited calls to introduce mandatory drug tests in schools. According to headteachers, this proposal which has been shelved for a number of times, seeks to address rising cases of drug and substance use among students, which has been identified as one of the causes of unrest in learning institutions

“There would be a need for rules to be enacted that would give a correct legal way of doing the testing so that we parents and schools can get informed of any instances of drug abuse among students.

It would definitely need two parties present, the school and the parents, because if the school did it alone in the absence of the parents, then the parent would definitely raise a concern and vice versa,” Kahi explained

According to Kahi, for the proposal to be implemented, both parents and teachers need to be involved in the process of making the guidelines that would ensure holistic implementation. School administrators are proposing a review of the law to reintroduce corporal punishment in schools