Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has called for deployment of police officers in schools to help contain rogue students.
Sossion opposed the proposal by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha to return caning in schools.
He argued that canning would further worsen the already broken teacher-student relationship. Sossion called upon the government to deploy police officers to be in charge of corporal punishment in schools.
"We will not accept the return of corporal punishment which will put our teachers in conflict with the learners.
"If they want to return it, let them post police officers to schools who will be doing the caning job because these teenagers are likely to kill the teachers,” Sossion stated.
The KNUT boss reiterated that boarding schools should be abolished citing that the spike in cases of student unrest was a result of parents' inability to discipline their children.
"It is time for this country to abolish all boarding schools and have state-of-the-art day schools. We want parents to regain their skills of guiding their own children after work. A teachers' job is to impart knowledge and values between 8 am to 5 pm,” he stated.
There has been concern regarding the rising cases of indiscipline among students. Cases of torching of dormitories and attacks on teachers have been rampant and have caused anxiety among parents and stakeholders within the education sector.
This has prompted CS Magoha to propose the reintroduction of caning to stem the unruly behaviour.
President Uhuru Kenyatta also raised concerns with particularly the rising cases of school fires.
Through State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena, President Kenyatta ordered the Ministry of Education to deal decisively with any student found culpable of the crimes.
