'Abolish boarding secondary schools to curb student unrest,' head teachers tell Gov't

Primary school heads now want the government to abolish boarding secondary schools as part of measures student unrest.

Representatives of the Kenya Primary Schools Headteachers Association (KePSHA) argue that parents are key players in determining their children’s discipline and thus would be vital in preventing the current surge of indiscipline in secondary schools.

The leaders claimed that most parents were uninvolved in their children’s progress and had left the duty to teachers.

"KePSHA proposes that secondary schools become day schools so that parents are involved in raising their children," stated the resolution read by Kepsha National Secretary Philip Mitei during a delegates’ conference in Mombasa on Thursday.

"We will collaborate with the Kenya National Parents’ Association to promote strong partnership, coordination and parental engagement to help children’s re-entry to schools and 100 percent transition from primary to secondary," he added.

(KePSHA) chairman Johnson Nzioka underscored the need for students to be with their parents saying that counsel from two parties; teachers and parents, would be the silver bullet to deal with the menace.

“The kind of misbehaviour children have in secondary schools shall only be curbed by letting children be with their parents most of the time for guidance and counselling,” said Nzioka.

Nzioka added: “As the child goes home, they are guided and at school, they find a different kind of guidance from teachers. We can instill discipline together. We shall have no more burning of schools.” 

At the same time, Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) in a different meeting seconded the idea by KEPSHA saying children in boarding schools suffer from increased stress levels and thus the government should consider turning the existing ones into day schools.

“Boarding schools have been overtaken by time. It is a colonial idea. We cannot sustain them. What we need is free and compulsory education for all learners,” KUPPET acting Secretary-General Moses Nthurima stated.

While addressing a different conference in Kisumu on Thursday, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha who has been opposed to the debate, welcomed the argument saying that the decision lies among all stakeholders.

“First of all, before we talk about indiscipline, we should ask ourselves whether we need boarding schools or not? In an ideal society where people are normal, boarding schools are supposed to flourish, isn’t it? But it is society to decide whether they continue to be there or not,” Magoha said.

Magoha at the same time reiterated that a Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) would be key in curbing indiscipline in the future stating that students in secondary schools by then would have had a good grounding.

The Education boss has over time been an advocator of reintroduction of corporal punishment as a solution to indiscipline, a subject that has attracted criticism from stakeholders.