Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi to be summoned over discrimination

By WILFRED AYAGA

Kenya: Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi may be summoned by a parlimentary committee to explain issues of religious discrimination in schools.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi referred the matter back to the Committee on Education, Research and Technology and advised it to invite Kaimenyi to clarify the issue that had attracted passions in the House.

MPs complained that a number of schools have ignored a Government circular that bars such discrimination and claimed that school heads are forcing Muslim students to remove hijabs and other forms of religious dressing.

Majority Leader Adna Duale threatened to name schools that have been barring Muslim students from wearing hijabs and also forcing them to take Christian religious lessons.

He refered to some cases that are pending in court over the issue of religious discrimination and said the Government circular is being violated.

“Schools that discriminate against students are known. Some of the issues have gone to court. A girl was forced to shave her hair out of this form of discrimination. We will give the name of the schools,” Duale told the House.

Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo said Seventh Day Adventist students are being forced to attend religious services that they do not subscribe to.

The debate arose out of a question by Zuleika Hassan (nominated) on the treatment of Muslim students in schools. MPs, however complained that the discrimination extended to members of other religious faiths.