PLP's Neema Mutemi blames Basic Education Act for weakening school discipline

A renewed debate has emerged over school discipline laws in Kenya after the People's Liberation Party (PLP) National Organizing Secretary Neema Mutemi raised concerns that the Basic Education Act, 2013 is contributing to rising cases of unrest and misconduct among learners in schools.

Speaking on Radio Generation on Thursday, Mutemi linked the growing discipline challenges to what she described as restrictive legal provisions introduced after the 2010 Constitution, saying they have limited how schools manage student behaviour.

People's Liberation Party National Organizing Secretary Neema Mutemi says the framework created under the Basic Education Act, Number 14 of 2013, has had a direct impact on discipline standards in schools today.

"The Basic Education Act, Number 14 of 2013, is very consequential to what is happening today," she said. "There are three basic clauses in that Act that have facilitated what we call the proliferation of school indiscipline and criminal acts within schools."

Mutemi pointed to Section 35 of the law, which places limits on the expulsion of learners, stating that expulsion can only happen under specific conditions set by the Cabinet Secretary for Education.

She argued that while the intention behind the provision was to protect learners, it has ended up constraining school administrators when dealing with serious disciplinary cases.

"These clauses sound fair until you actually put yourself in there," she said. "When you sit with school administrators and students after unrest, you realize their hands have sort of been tied."

Mutemi also raised concerns about Section 36 of the Act, which outlaws physical punishment and mental harassment of children in learning institutions.

"I have a problem with even just bundling two things together — mental harassment and physical punishment — because those are two very different things," Mutemi said.

She further argued that the law removed long-standing disciplinary methods that schools previously relied on, saying the current legal framework has left institutions with limited options when handling student behaviour.

"What they did was a blanket ban on all previously known forms of punishment," she argued.

Drawing from her academic background in education research, Mutemi said her findings on student unrest suggest that discipline systems in schools require review, especially in how they balance protection of learners and order in institutions.

Mutemi, who said her master's research focused on why Kenyan students rebel, maintained that the law may have gone too far in trying to protect children’s rights at the expense of discipline structures in schools.

At the same time, she acknowledged that the Basic Education Act was designed to align with the Constitution, particularly in safeguarding learners from abuse and promoting dignity in education institutions.

She also turned attention to school infrastructure, saying overcrowding remains a major challenge that contradicts the intent of quality education reforms.

"You have this delightful law, and then you go and house students in a dorm where you're packing sardines," she said. "It is dehumanising, it is degrading. Dignity is completely wiped out just where they are dwelling."

Mutemi added that in some schools, classrooms designed for about 40 learners are now accommodating as many as 80 students, raising concerns over learning conditions and overall student welfare.

Her remarks come at a time when concerns over school unrest, safety, and discipline have been growing, prompting fresh discussions on whether current education policies adequately address both learner rights and school management needs.

According to the Basic Education Act, 2013, no learner may be held back in class or expelled unless corrective measures have been exhausted and due process followed. The law also bars physical punishment and mental harassment, prohibiting any cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of learners in schools.