Parents to blame for indiscipline, says CS Fred Matiang’i
Education Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang'i delivers his speech during the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association Conference at Wild Waters resort in Mombasa on June 20, 2017. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Dr Matiang’i said that lack of better parental involvement has lead to unruliness among students.
Fred Matiang’i said the society has been increasingly developing little respect for living values among children.
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has blamed parents for the indiscipline in schools.
Dr Matiang’i said that lack of better parental involvement has lead to unruliness among students.
“We have a crisis of absentee parents. People who think that others should take care of their children for them.
If you do not have time to raise your children, you have no business having them in the first place,” said the CS.
“The little respect for family values has manifested in our schools because the behaviour of some of our students and the challenges that we are dealing with start from home,” he added.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
Speaking on Wednesday during the official opening of the 8th annual chaplaincy conference at Milele Beach in Mombasa, Dr Matiang’i said there was need for better parental involvement to instill discipline in students.
“Why would you think that money is the best way of replacing yourself in your children’s lives so that you can vanish?
All those troubles are brought to the teachers in schools,” he said, adding: “Time is here when we need to look at involvement of parents in our schools and you chaplains will help us on the way forward.”
LITTLE RESPECT
He said the society has been increasingly developing little respect for living values among children.
The CS said it was time for parents to work closely with teachers in keeping the students in line so as to avert cases of indiscipline.
He announced that as a remedy, the government will entrench chaplaincy in schools by next year. “We are going to achieve nothing if we are not going to work with faith-based organisation to address student indiscipline. The organisations will also help us in dealing with parents,” he said.
PSYCHOLOGY COURSES
“The family unit is in danger, thus we are going to approve the institutionalisation of chaplaincy in our schools,” added Dr Matiang’i.
He noted that the chaplains will be taken through psychology courses to help them deal with parents and students.
Teachers purchase textbooks during the second day of Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association Conference at Wild Waters in Mombasa on June 20, 2017. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
“We have challenges such as children participating in gambling, which is becoming a crazy thing hurting our children,” he said.
“We will mobilise government resources and support chaplaincy in schools. We want a situation where when we have parent day meetings in schools the chaplains get an opportunity to tell the parents about their children,” he said.
MODERNISE TRAINING
He added: “We are going to modernise our training and be prepared to deal with the modern child. The child we were counselling in the past is not the same one that we have now,” he said.
Dr Matiang’i stated that the ministry will only deal with well-structured faith organisations and “not groups that are formed outside there by anyone”.
