Two parents who support homeschooling on Monday challenged the criminalisation of not enrolling a child in either a public or private school.
They are seeking to have homeschooling recognised as a legitimate alternative system of education.
The parents, Silus Shikwekwe and Onesmus Mboy, are petitioning Education CS George Magoha. They say the school enrolment requirement limits the scope of education and is contrary to the child’s right to freedom of conscience, opinion, belief and free will.
Shikwekwe and his children were arrested on February 18 this year and he was charged before Butali court in Kakamega for not enrolling his children in school.
"Sections of the Basic Education Act, which provide that a child should be registered either in a private or a public school, limit the rights of a parent to determine the forum and manner in which the child will receive education," the parents say through their lawyer Eddy Orinda.
Orinda said nonrecognition of homeschooling violates rights of children who may choose it as well as the right of the parent to determine the child’s best interest.
In the case pending before Butali court, Shikwekwe is accused of abdicating his duty to enrol the children at school, yet the minors need care and protection.
The classroom is transformed into a detention facility subjecting a child to mental torture thereby limiting and or inhibiting the child's full development.
The arrest, questioning and the incarceration of the children were illegal and violated the children’s rights as they should only be a last resort, the petitioners said.
They said that a child, formally enrolled and sitting in class, may not necessarily be receiving education in a manner that best promotes his or her well-being and full development.
“Consequently, the classroom is transformed into a detention facility which subjects a child to mental torture thereby limiting and or inhibiting the full development of the child,” Lawyer Orinda said.
There is no conclusive empirical evidence or guarantee that the enrolment of a child in school inculcates quality education, morals, values and principles in the child as envisaged in the Constitution, the petitioners argue.
“Conversely, there is no proof that provision of home education in any way compromises or diminishes a child’s right to education,” their affidavit reads.
The Attorney General and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have been listed asrespondents
