Ministry intervenes for student suspended for stealing bread

A school that suspended a student for stealing a loaf of bread has re-admitted him following the intervention of the Ministry of Education.

Kiambu County Director for Education Ali Abdikadir directed the re-admission of the Form Three student.

“The school administration has re-admitted the student. It should follow proper disciplinary measures against the student as laid down in the rules and regulations governing students in schools,” he said.

The school management had ordered the student to buy 1,000 loaves of bread as punishment, which translates to Sh50,000.

“The child will not have to pay outstanding fees or buy loaves of bread as claimed in the letter suspending the student,” said Mr Abdikadir.

The official, however, said the school could take appropriate action against the student for the indiscipline aside from counselling and guiding him to shun wrong behaviour for his own good.

DISCIPLINE QUERIES

The student’s suspension raises questions on the issue of disciplining students.

A taskforce report on school unrest that was chaired by Claire Omolo and whose report was released in May last year also raised issue with disciplining of students.

The report observed that most schools lacked structured discipline committees.

“There were also no specific guidelines on the operations of the committees which led to arbitrary decision making in many cases.

Records of committee’s actions and deliberations indicated that some students were warned while others were suspended for similar offences,” added the report.

The taskforce recommended the formulation of rules through public participation and based on Ministry of Education policies and guidelines.

“The Ministry of Education should develop clear policy and issue comprehensive guidelines on the discipline process in schools,” recommended the taskforce.