Kirinyaga Deputy Governor Peter Ndambiri has backed Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha's proposal to reintroduce caning in schools.
Ndambiri said the rod would help a great deal in restoring discipline and good morals among learners. He said taking legal actions against unruly children will most likely fail to serve the purpose of correcting them.
“Caning could help in straightening up their behaviour as opposed to dealing with them in a legal manner. For example, having a 14-year-old student jailed for 30 years is tantamount to destroying his or her future. What our students need is to be handled with the rod in a moderate manner.”
He backed Magoha’s proposal in the wake of school unrest and high rate of moral decadence in many schools across the country. The deputy county chief spoke at Karia Boys High School in Kerugoya where two dormitories were gutted by fire in suspected cases of arson within a span of two weeks.
Ndambiri also appealed to parents and guardians to take their parental responsibilities seriously and instil discipline in their young ones to secure their future.
“Parents struggle a lot in search of school fees, a fact many of their children could be ignorant of, as they do not break any sweat. If we don’t watch their behaviour, we could as well punish ourselves and pay heavily for their sins.
“In this case, parents of this school will have to pay dearly as the burden to facilitate the rehabilitation of the latest damaged facility has now been transferred to them,” he said.
He also regretted that the county firefighting bowser failed to respond to the incident because of a mechanical fault. He said the county would deal with the concerned department accordingly.
The school is the first in the county to register a fire incident. The second case was reported on Sunday night. The dorm had a 96-student capacity.
The school has been closed for two weeks to allow the police to conduct investigations and enable the management to make accommodation arrangements in readiness for learners' return.
Kirinyaga Central deputy county commissioner Daniel Ndege said they had narrowed their investigations to 16 students—eight in Form 3 and eight in Form 4.
“According to the school management, the suspects have been registering indiscipline cases. When they opened school, they even walked out of school on their own volition,” he said.
The administrator said the suspected candidates will not be allowed back in school but will only return to sit their KCSE exam. However, the fate of those in Form3 will be decided by the school disciplinary board.
