Education CS Professor George Magoha has directed all schools to allow students wear their different religious regalia.
The order by the CS comes following reports that some head teachers and principals have been sending students home because of donning their religious attires.
Magoha made his remarks on Saturday, July 30, in Nandi County where he was commissioning Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms.
He further 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.
“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,” Magoha added.
Furthermore, the Education CS 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.
Moreover, Magoha reported that disciplinary actions would be taken against school managements that would not comply with the directives.
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“We are not asking you to kindly obey them, you must obey them,” he warned.
Nonetheless, the directive by the CS come after he was on the spot for profiling a Muslim journalist from NTV.
The Muslim Council of Kenya, the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) and the general public did not take the matter lightly.
Furthermore, the Muslim Council demanded that the President should sack Magoha for making such a reckless statement.
Nevertheless, the CS issued an apology to the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) and regretted making such utterances.