Headteachers are proposing a raft of punitive laws targeting both parents and students ahead of school reopening on April 25.
Speaking in Mombasa on Monday, April 18, during their annual conference, school heads proposed the adoption of a new rule that will see parents of indiscipline students spend millions in damages during unrest.
In their proposal, headteachers are now pushing for the review of laws so that students found culpable of organising strikes in schools should be held individually responsible, and do away with blanket punishment.
“In my view, we shouldn’t punish everybody because some of the children are innocent; the plan might have been hatched by a few people. If this is the case, when we charge everybody we end up punishing the children and their parents,” Kenya Secondary Heads Association (KSSHA) chair Indimuli Kahi opined.
The school heads also reignited calls to introduce mandatory drug test in schools. According to headteachers, this proposal which has been shelved for a number of times seeks to address rising cases of drug and substance use among students, which has been identified as one of the causes of unrest in learning institutions.
"There would be a need for rules to be enacted that would give a correct legal way of doing the testing so that we parents and schools can get informed of any instances of drug abuse among students.
It would definitely need two parties present, the school and the parents because if the school did it alone in the absence of the parents then the parent would definitely raise a concern and vice versa," Kahi explained.
According to Kahi, for the proposal to be implemented both parents and teachers need to be involved in the process of making the guidelines that would ensure holistic implementation.
Additionally, school administrators are proposing a review of the law to reintroduce corporal punishment in schools.
On the abolishment of boarding schools, Kahi insisted that it would not offer the solution to the perennial cases of unrest.
According to Kahi, boarding schools in Kenya have become a tradition and acceptable norm, he thus called for introduction of new measures to make institutions more conducive.
Admission of form one students is set to begin on May 3, with the rest of the students and learners going back to class from Monday next week for a new academic year.
