Nairobi — Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha has ordered all schools to allow their students to wear their different religious regalia like hijabs and veils.
His directive comes after reports that some headteachers and principals have been sending students home because of donning their religious attires.
Speaking in Nandi County on Saturday 30 July where he was commissioning Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms, the CS urged school heads to avoid discriminating the students based on their religion.
“I am informed that there are still a few schools that are harassing children because of the manner they dress and sometimes discriminating against them,” he said.
He urged the schools to allow the students in school with their different religious attires.
“No student should be removed from school because of wearing a headgear. Whether that headgear is a Muslim hijab or a Christian sister’s attire or an Akorino turban,” stated Magoha.
Magoha further warned that sending students home will not only be defiance of an order he had issued but also a defiance of an order from the president.
“Can we agree that the circular that was issued by the Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Jwan on my instructions and those instructions I got from His excellency the president therefore they were policy instructions and must be obeyed,” he added.
Magoha warned that disciplinary actions would be taken against school managements that would not comply with the directives as they are compulsory.
“We are not asking you to kindly obey them, you must obey them,” stated Magoha.
The order by the CS comes after he was on the spot for profiling a Muslim journalist from NTV when she asked the CS a question when he was laying a foundation for the second phase of CBC junior classrooms in Nairobi.
The matter was not taken lightly by the Muslim Council of Kenya, the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) and the general public as well.
The Muslim Council demanded that the President should sack Magoha for making such a reckless statement as it undermined the freedom of religion as enshrined in the constitution.
Magoha bowed to pressure and issued an apology to the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) and regretted making such utterances.