Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha should call a stakeholders meeting to discuss the crisis in schools, Likuyani MP Enoch Kibunguchy has said.
Kibunguchy said the school fires problem does not require knee jack reactions but a serious discourse involving all players in the sector to find the root cause of the arson cases.
Speaking at St Michael’s Milimani Secondary School. Kibunguchy said returning the cane cannot end the indiscipline in schools.
“It doesn’t matter how much caning takes place in schools, we shall continue having this problem unless the root cause of the arson cases is established,” the legislator said during the commissioning of a new laboratory on Saturday.
“For a student to pick a match box and set the school on fire, there must be a reason and this is what stakeholders must work together to establish,” he said.
Kibunguchy said for the cane to be reintroduced in schools, the law must be amended because the Constitution outlaws corporal punishment.
He said that the process would involve a referendum since it touches on the Bill of Rights, which is one of the protected clauses.
A number of schools have been destroyed by fires suspected to have been started by students. Parents have been slapped with fines to meet the costs of repairs. A number of suspected students have also been charged in court.
The government has called on parents to take charge of discipline of their children instead of leaving the burden to teachers.
Schools have continued to burn down, despite a declaration that parents will meet the cost of repairing burnt schools.
