Tom Matoke
12 August 2008
Nairobi — Drug abuse is a major cause of indiscipline among students, the chairman of a parliamentary committee investigating unrest in schools has said.
Mr David Koech, who is also the Mosop MP, asked the Government to provide enough security in all secondary schools to curtail sneaking of drugs into the learning institutions.
He argued that drug abuse, insecurity in schools and parents' neglect of their children were some of the major reasons behind the high rate of strikes and burning of buildings in secondary schools in Kenya.
Mr Koech said police officers, under the direction of district commissioners, should be allowed to respond to students' strikes in order to control damage of property.
The MP, who chairs the parliamentary committee on Education, said investigation by his team on recent student unrest found that more than 300 secondary schools went on strike due to rampant drug and alcohol abuse.
In some schools, insecurity was found to be a major cause of unrest.
The MP said it had been established that the students who were neglected by their parents took a leading role in the organising of the school strikes after taking drugs.
The Education committee, which went around the country conducting its investigations, found that the culture of demonstrations, copied from the post-election mayhem, was also to blame, Mr Koech said.
The Mosop MP was speaking at the Nandi North District Education Board meeting in Kapsabet Town, where he also appealed to teachers and education officials to develop close working relationships with students.
Make ends meet
Mr Koech, who was accompanied by the Rift Valley Kenya National Union of Teachers deputy secretary, Mr Josephat Serem, and Nandi North DC Fredrick Ndambuki, condemned the strikes, saying many parents who struggle to make ends meet now faced the burden of funding the rebuilding of destroyed buildings.
Mr Serem took issue with parents who had left the role of disciplining children to teachers in order to concentrate on their careers and businesses.
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