MPs want the Ministry of Education to spell out how schools can discipline unruly students. The National Assembly Education Committee says the proposed Basic Education Bill, 2026, is silent on serious misconduct. This includes learners who assault teachers or attack other students.
The committee raised the issue on Tuesday during stakeholder hearings on the education reform bills. The State Department for Basic Education, led by Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa, appeared before the committee. Its chair, Tinderet MP Julius Melly, questioned Clause 19 of the bill. He said the clause protects learners from abuse and corporal punishment but gives schools little guidance on violent students.
"Schools are now ungovernable," Melly said, according to The Star. He said teachers are unsafe because students can manhandle them while the law protects the student. He also pointed to cases of students burning fellow learners. He asked the ministry to develop "very clear regulations".
Ololtuaa replied that the Education Cabinet Secretary is responsible for drafting those regulations. He said they would cover when a learner can be suspended. He added that subsections 2 and 3 of Clause 19 ban corporal punishment and any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, whether physical or psychological. Council of Legal Education chairperson Collins Odote, who accompanied the PS, agreed that the current discipline system is not working. He said more needs to be done.
MPs also questioned a plan to turn the School Equipment Production Unit (SEPU) into a Government-Owned Enterprise. They asked how schools would keep getting affordable learning materials once SEPU leaves direct ministry control. Ololtuaa said the move follows an Executive Order issued after a Cabinet meeting and must go ahead.
The Teachers Service Commission, led by acting CEO Evaline Mitei, backed Clause 27. That clause would give registration certificates only to schools with registered teachers. The commission opposed parts of the Pre-Service Education and In-Service Training Bill, 2026. It objects to turning the Kibabii, Kagumo and Lugari teacher training colleges into branches of the Kenya School of Education to offer conference facilities. Mitei said the colleges should keep training teachers for the new learning areas introduced under CBE.
Kenyans.co.ke noted that Kenya abolished corporal punishment, including caning, about two decades ago. Anyone who breaks the ban faces a fine of up to KSh 100,000, up to six months in jail, or both. The hearings resume on Thursday, November 6. The submissions, along with views from public forums in all 47 counties, will feed into the committee's final report.