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Category: Community News

Written by Kim

Reports of parents descending on schools and attacking teachers in front of pupils are very disturbing indeed.

These actions point to a society flirting with the law of the jungle in place of the rule of law. They point to a society that is busy imparting the wrong values to those that it wants to bequeath the future.

I appeal to parents to exercise restraint no matter what the KCPE results looked like in their schools.

I also appeal to parents to treat the teachers with the respect and dignity they deserve as professionals on whose hands the future of this nation lies.

Performance of schools is not solely the work of the teacher. Many players come in, including parents, the Teachers’ Service Commission, the Ministry of Education, and the students themselves, among others.

It is therefore absolutely unfair to target teachers alone over exam results.

While parents understandably want good results, a desire I know teachers also share, the kind of attacks being witnessed could only lead to further deterioration of discipline among school children and lack of respect for teachers. These scenarios will only lead to worse results.

I appeal to aggrieved parents to use appropriate channels to air their grievances. As parents, we must send the right signals to our children in regard to respect for institutions, professionals and rule of law.

Let there be consultations between Boards of Governors, PTA’s, KNUT, TSC and the Ministry of Education on the performance.
I fear the trend witnessed so far is a bad lesson to the children and our society may pay dearly for it in future.

We make a terrible mistake when we pass the message to the children that might is right and that their teachers are that vulnerable to us the parents.

Rt. Hon. Raila A. Odinga, EGH, MP

PRIME MINISTER