George Magoha: ‘Whether you like it or not, drug test is a must’

Education CS George Magoha watering a tree at Obuolo Secondary School, Kisumu County. [Washington Onyango, Standard]

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha yesterday backed compulsory drug tests for Maranda boys’ school ahead of schools reopening next week.

Prof Magoha, who was in Obuolo Mixed Secondary School for a ground-breaking ceremony for Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms, confirmed that some students were hooked to drugs.

He said the drug test should not be misinterpreted to mean the ministry and the school does not love children.

The CS warned that the government will deal with students who are criminals.

“What else will you call a child who is burning a school? The answer to this problem starts at home. I am urging parents to spend time with their children and take them through the University of Life,” he said.

Maranda High School administration has ordered students to undergo a drug and substance test before they are readmitted to the institution next Tuesday.

A message sent to parents a week ago by the schools chief principal Edwin Namachanja said all the students will have to undergo drug and substance tests while at home.

Magoha claimed some parents had allowed their children to misbehave and indulge in drugs.

“If your child demands everything, do you give them? You must find a way of persuading your child to be realistic in life. Some parents have allowed their children to do everything including taking drugs,” Magoha explained.

The CS said parents were spending little time with their children and hence, cannot monitor their behaviour.

Education CS George Magoha. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

“Some parents arrive home so late, that they do not even know where their children sleep. Parents no longer demand to know where their children are. They must know that those children need their time, not money,” he noted.

Earlier, while addressing school principals during the National school’s conference, he asked school heads not to readmit students sent away from schools over lesbianism and homosexuality cases.

 “If you accept them back to your schools and they end up burning the schools, just make sure you have money to take care of the damage without involving the Ministry,” he warned.

The CS expressed confidence that CBC will solve the indiscipline problem in most schools.

He argued that by the time the CBC children will join secondary schools there will be no fire cases in schools.

“I am confident about this. CBC is already doing a lot of wonders and children under this system have been trained well,” he noted.

Magoha also said funds for the third term will be deposited in the schools’ bank accounts by next week, urging school heads not to send children home.

“Primary school is free and it is wrong to send them home. The same applies to day secondary school, which is fully paid for by the government,” he noted.