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{
    "id": 834090,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/834090/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 160,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Makueni, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Daniel Maanzo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "it was when teachers were transferred without consultations. You know the Constitution of this country talks about public participation and consultation as very important, especially on a very sensitive matter like this one. It is true that children are likely to be delinquent and commit crimes. They are likely to act in a mob and cause destruction of property. At the same time, the question arises as to how we try those students. In the case of Makueni, the students were taken to ordinary courts. They were not put in any special cells. In fact, I heard two to three complaints whereby while the male students who had been in police custody were being questioned by the police on why they had given them such a rough time and why they had to burn the school, their private parts were squeezed. You can imagine the consequences of such action against a child who may not know exactly what was happening. The way those children have been treated has served as a caution. Others are careful not to go through the same experience or cause trouble. There must be a method of getting this sorted out. One of the proposals is the strengthening of rehabilitation schools commonly known as approved schools. We should actually have a policy whereby there are quite a number of those approved schools as they used to be, like the famous Wamumu and many other such schools across the country. We could have a school in each county. Approved schools were very much feared by students. If you know that if you make a mistake at high school you are in, or you participate in this sort of thing you will be transferred to an approved school, which is almost like a prison, you will behave. There is close scrutiny in approved schools in terms of how students behave. What happens currently is that once you burn a school or you commit such a crime, you are taken to court. Court cases take five to six years to be concluded. You are attending court and you are not attending classes. What happens is that you eventually join the club of the jobless youth – an issue we were debating a little earlier. After going through the trial system, like the infamous case of Kyanguli where several lives were lost, the suspects lead miserable lives. The suspects of the Kyanguli fire tragedy look abnormal, and they have not achieved much in life. There should be structures within the family whereby good discipline is taught by the example of responsible parents. We should have schools with close monitoring of a child and take note when he or she begins showing this sort of behaviour. It is good when there is teamwork between teachers and parents. If such children are moved to an approved school, they have a chance of being rehabilitated and there will be no possibility that they will commit the crime of burning their fellow students. The proposals are very good. There must be a policy which we should pursue further after this so that those schools are rehabilitated and rebuilt. In every county, whenever students mess up, they should know they will go to approved school. That, in itself, will be correctional. Students will be careful not to participate in this sort of behaviour. I support this matter. I urge Hon. Washiali that this Motion should be followed up at the implementation stage so that we do not have such high numbers of flimsy excuses. There should also be retraining of teachers who handle students so that they end up encouraging students and bringing up responsible Kenyans instead of criminals. Because of the way they are treated, they may not end up in university…"
}