A school in Homa Bay County has suspended a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) for speaking vernacular in the presence of a visitor.
Lala Secondary School suspended a female KCSE candidate for speaking Dholuo, her mother tongue while in school.
At the same time, the school also suspended another KCSE candidate over incitement allegations.
The male student who is also a classmate to the female student was suspended for reading loudly, details on the leave out sheet of the female student.
The two form four students were suspended when they were preparing for the national examinations set to begin in two weeks time.
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As a result, their parents have expressed fear that the suspension may interfere with their children’s preparations for the national exams.
According to the school principal Kennedy Nyamolo, the female student was suspended on September 28, after uttering a word in Dholuo when an official from the Education Ministry had visited the school.
The school principal maintained that the student had to be suspended for breaking the school regulation that bars students from communicating in vernacular while in school.
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“The female student had violated the school language policy which restricts students to communicate in official languages only,” he said.
“It was worse since she uttered a word in Dholuo in the presence of a visitor from the Ministry of Education,” he added.
He explained that the student had refused to own up and apologize for speaking in vernacular.
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Her fellow students had also tried to protect her since she made the utterances while in a group of others and teachers could not immediately single her out.
“It took a lot of effort for the teachers and school prefects to identify her and consequently, she had just to be suspended,” said the school principal.
He added that the two students will remain suspended until the day for KCSE rehearsals when they will be allowed in school.
