Should teachers be allowed to carry guns with them while on their official duty? Well, Strong reactions continued to follow news of the brutal murder of a teacher in Nakuru, with a union official suggesting that teachers should be allowed to carry guns while in school.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) national vice-chairperson Julius Korir said on Saturday that teachers were in danger and should be allowed to protect themselves in classrooms.
“If students are planning and executing the murder of their teachers, it means no teacher is safe in the school environment. The best way to protect them is for the government to allow them to carry guns,” said Mr Korir.
Students and teachers at Hopewell Secondary School at Barut in Nakuru woke up on Friday morning to the sad news of the clobbering to death of Mr Peter Omare Mogusu, a physics and computer studies teacher, who had been attacked late the previous night after supervising night preps.
Police in Nakuru have arrested three suspects, one of them a Form Four student learning at the same school, in connection with the killing. Mr Korir told teachers to weigh their options before accepting to supervise night preps.
“If the area is unsafe or if you have inside sources that students are planning bad things, I urge teachers not to do any preps duties because that would be risking their lives,” he said.
Addressing the press in Nakuru accompanied by branch officials led by branch executive secretary Eliud Wanjohi, Mr Korir said that teachers were facing imminent danger from hostile students.
“We condemn the heinous and cowardly act that resulted into the murder of our comrade. It is unfortunate and very sad to have lost a young and gallant hardworking teacher at a prime age of 32 years while in line of duty,” he said.
Mr Korir said it is high time corporal punishment was reintroduced to curb the rising cases of indiscipline in schools.
The officials urged the government to ensure that those implicated in the murder of the Nakuru teacher face full force of the law.