A candidate for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is at risk of missing the national exam after being suspended by her school for having chewing gum in her bag.
The form four student was found with the gum during a routine search when pupils returned from the mid-term break.
According to her mother, the gum was left in the bag by mistake, an error, she says, that her daughter has admitted to.
With the exams just weeks away, the concerned mother is worried that her daughter now risks falling behind in her studies.
According to the mother, the school administration has demanded chewing gum for all 580 students at the institution, worth about KSh16,800, before her daughter can be allowed back.
“When students were returning from mid-term last term, she was found with three [packs of] chewing gums during a search at the gate, which she admitted she had forgotten in her bag. This marked the beginning of her troubles at the school. Later, she was sent home with a demand to purchase chewing gum for all 580 students at a total cost of Sh16,800,” she said during an interview with NTV.
The claim has brought outrage from the public as Kenyans questioned whether there was a law used allowed for punishing students for having gum.
"How did they arrive at Ksh 16,800? School punishments should be realistic and within the law," Laing'o Nkang'a, a netizen, questioned.
Another social media user empathised with the situation as they called out the institution over what they felt was an inconsiderate punishment.
"Let's be serious for a moment. Parents are finding it hard to pay fees and then this is what you deem as punishment?" another netizen stated.
The mother had added that the school warned that if they fail to provide the chewing gum, the student would not be allowed back
“She has already missed two major exams, including the end-of-term two and third-term opener exams. I was told that without the chewing gum, my child cannot go back to school,” she said.
“As a parent, I feel the school is punishing me unfairly. I had already cleared the school fees for my child, only to be forced into negotiations on how to pay a hefty fine, which, to me, feels like double payment of school fees,” she added.
According to the report by NTV, the school principal had declined to comment on the matter even as other members of the public commenting on the matter argued that if the school has a rule against chewing gum, then it has the right to issue a punishment.
"If chewing gum is prohibited in that school, then let the student carry his or her cross," Levi Mwanawassa commented.
