If one pauses for a moment and reminisces of their high school life, what are some of the things that come to mind? From the long hours at preps, memorable moments at interschool functions alias funkies to the tough punishments from teachers, the high school life had it all.
In most cases, it was engulfed with one word: mischief. From organising strikes, dormitory fires, riots, students would find extreme ways to voice their concerns.
This led to principals coming up with tougher punishments, suspensions or in dire cases, expulsions, in order to curb indiscipline cases within the school.
Kenyans.co.ke takes a look at some of these weird acts that principals used in order to tame unruly students behaviour.
Civil war
Principals were fond of delegating teachers and prefects in order to enforce discipline within the school. However, in the case of Nyeri High School, near Mathari Consolata Mission Hospital, the principal took the civil war to its literal term.
An alumni of the school told this writer that the principal feared unrest in the school after rumours of a looming strike being organised by the Form 3s went rampant in 2015. The school head resorted to issuing an ultimatum to the Form 4s in order to avert the strike.
"He told us that if we maintained peace in the school, we would be cleared of all wrongdoings that we had done in the past four years. An enticing approach to solving the issue, we agreed to his ultimatum and we ended up beating the Form 3s who would plan the strikes," he stated.
Football Frenzy
For the unruly students at Kanga High School, Migori County, their principal's love for watching football games would be incorporated in their punishment.
"For the unruly students, he would take them to watch English Premier League (EPL) matches at a local pub approximately two kilometres away from the school. After the match is done, he would warn the student that should they arrive at the school after him, they'd face severe consequences.
"He would then take his car and leave, so you would have to find your means and reach the school within minutes or else you would receive a suspension letter the following day," an alumni stated.
"We don't do that Here"
There's a certain prestige that comes with students of The Alliance High School due to its status. However, the school was not left without its intrigues when it came to teachers devising nifty tactics to nab rowdy students.
"For us the deputies were the ones with crazy ideas, he used to park his car next to the administration block to make us think that he was in the office only to burst out of nowhere and catch students flaunting rules," an alumni identified as Paul stated.
Just a few kilometres from the school, their neighbouring school, Alliance Girls High school also had a few intrigues. An alumni of the school recounted how one Sunday afternoon turned ugly after the students were asked to sit on hot tarmac for a whole day as the school prefects watched.
This was after the girls showed too much enthusiasm after interacting with their male counterparts from the Alliance High School, during a joint service at Thogoto Church of the Torch. All students caught shouting, cheering or engaging with the boys in a more enthusiastic manner would face the music.
Impersonation
In yet another interesting saga, students who were suspected of carrying out strikes and issued with suspension letters would be forced to carry all their belongings including their boxes. This would serve as a form of severe punishment (seen as expulsion) as the students would go through the trouble of carrying their belongings back home and return with them upon the scheduled date.
In another case, the principal would impersonate students and use vernacular language during night discussions in order to catch the students behind strike plans.
"The principal would also use spies as a nifty tactic. In a case where a student comes from a poor background and is caught in a disciplinary issue, the principal would blackmail them into becoming a spy for the administration or else get expelled. The tactic would work as other students would be nabbed," an alumni stated.
In Barwesa Secondary School in Baringo County, the principal also resorted to donning the school uniform, in a bid to tame the unruly behaviour of students - a tactic that he noted has improved interaction with the students and resulted to conflict resolution.
