By Bonface Mulyungi

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has urged students across the country to uphold discipline and pursue alternative channels to address their grievances, as a wave of unrest continues to rock learning institutions nationwide.

Speaking in Kisumu, KNUT Deputy Secretary General Hesbon Otieno attributed the rising cases of unrest to peer-induced indiscipline, warning that the trend had resulted in the wanton destruction of critical school infrastructure.

Otieno called on students to utilise existing student governance structures to raise concerns, rather than resorting to disruptive behaviour.

“The school calendar must proceed and go on uninterrupted so that we can have the calendar completed at the end of the year. Students, we are calling you up to style up, be the students you are supposed to be. If you have anything you want to address, you have the student body in that school that has been elected so that you can have dialogue with the leadership of the school,” he said.

Children Services Principal Secretary Carren Angeng’o, who also addressed students, praised schools that had established positive teacher-student engagement frameworks, calling on other institutions to adopt similar models.

“We have learnt here how teachers are engaging positively with the students. They have channels for discipline and also channels for communication. This is one thing that I want to add also other schools to emulate in terms of positive communication with the students, to create an environment that is safe for learning and not an environment of discomfort,” the PS said.

The two officials were speaking after attending a church service at Nyakach Girls High School in Kisumu, where they also addressed students in Nyakach.