In March 2017 the Court of Appeal ruled that forcing Seventh-day Adventist students to attend class on Saturday was an infringement on their constitutional right to worship.
Two years later Chebisaas Boys High School in Eldoret suspended five SDA students for refusing to sit an exam on Saturday. A court ordered the school to readmit them.
Last year Kabianga High School suspended 17 students for refusing to sit an exam on Saturday. The Education ministry revoked the suspension.
Strange, isn’t it, that even after the second-highest court in the land ruled in favour of students’ freedom to worship, schools, public schools for that matter, would still suspend students for refusing to sit an exam on Saturday.
Besides, the ministry has all these rules about holding classes on weekends and after official hours. I know the rules are a bit relaxed for boarding schools but still to suspend children when the law and courts are on their side is the height of impunity.
The 2010 Constitution guarantees every Kenyan the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion. This includes children.
I’m no law person but I think the Court of Appeal ruling did not just apply to high school students. SDA children in public primary schools are being given a hard time by their teachers for going to church instead of school on Saturday.
I mean, isn’t it illegal for teachers to make children in day schools go to class on Saturday? Yet I see children in their ‘civilian’ clothes lugging backpacks heading to school on Saturday morning and coming from school sometime in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, those who just want to worship on Sabbath (Saturday), with the Bible, the Constitution, the Court of Appeal and Ministry of Education policies on their side, are given a hard time. Impunity.
Walter Amoko, in commenting on the Court of Appeal judgment, writes that: “The lessons to be taken from the foregoing is that learning institutions need to bring themselves up to speed with the Constitutional and statutory duties by not only permitting learners to fully subscribe to and practise any faith of their choice but also avoid imposing their preferred religion upon learners.”
The teachers, and most importantly the Education ministry, are failing children. I, for one, am glad we live in a secular state and we do not have to subscribe to any one particular faith.
If a child wants to worship on Saturday, let them. Our secular Constitution gives them that freedom and God will help them pass exams if that’s what the teachers are worried about. If it’s about money, the teachers should just be content with their salaries.
